Artificial
by Irkala
Summary: If you liked the overly happy things associated with the following, please reconsider. Thanks for reading.
1. Chapter 1

**I**

**Simulated Genesis**

He was a cheater, and how she detested cheaters.

How dare he. This was clearly something far beyond what she could comprehend—or so she thought. It wasn't the cheating even that so consumed her, that so drove her to madness. It was that he thought such an easy and simple act would go unnoticed, unpunished as well.

He was _wrong._

She would be the punishment, she would bring him to the light of judgment—even if no one understood. She was doing him a favor, everyone a favor really. If what he desired was to simply win than she wondered, was it worth it? Was all of this worth it? He would suffer, how he would suffer greatly. No one stood before her, not now and not ever. Somewhere along the way, along the destinies, he had a price to pay.

Competition boiled in Taffyta's blood, and she felt its life coarse through her as she sped across the track. Race after race after race she consumed the catharsis of victory; she _thrived _on the doses of euphoria that put her at a high when she won time and time again. She was a natural competitor. To think that there were those who still, after all of these cycles, thought they could steal that from her drove her mad. All was safe and healthy in fair sport, at first—those many cycles ago, it didn't bug her. Yet her foundation grew, and so did her lust for winning. After so many victories she began to realize that it was her given job to take victory from those who were unworthy, who couldn't handle it. There were a few who stood a chance, a few who at least somewhat stood up to her; one who regularly beat her even-their late king. The corruption that had consumed him disappeared along with his form into the great abyss outside the matrix. Somewhere deep down this disturbed her beyond comprehension. The one who through example fed her the lust to continue racing, to continue beating those below her had dissolved into the infinite. What hell was this? If the one that she looked up to and so trusted in admiration as a leader turned out to be none other than a corruption, a virus—then where did she have any sort of idol to aspire to?

It was then that she began to realize with full force that it was her job to lead the rest of _them_. Or so she liked to think; in reality she now had a new competitor among the group, the new Queen, the new 'beacon', a wretch by the name of Vanellope.

She wouldn't do, she wouldn't do at all.

That—thing was the new leader. Her fake smile and cheerful demeanor around Vanellope could only barely hide the seething hatred inside of her. The deep and burning core of sheer disgust for this distortion as their "Queen" made her stomach churn, her face hot with envy and anger. It was to be her that was to attain the rightful place of queen within the matrix, not Vanellope, not that—glitch.

It ate at her day in and day out. Race after race, loss after loss it consumed her. The king was the only figure she could look up to, with him gone how was she to stand under the glitch's shadow? She didn't deserve that, especially considering she was the superior racer, the superior _being._

But alas, what was she to do in reality?

There was no doubt, Vanellope was a fierce competitor—she was at least not to be underestimated. To worsen matters, she had this bizarre ability: she could briefly manipulate the very fabric of the matrix to her will; shifting positions in space in an instant. It was almost Godlike, to be expected of a "glitch" of course. She was reminded time and time again that Vanellope wasn't really a glitch—per se, moreso an "advanced" program. This without a doubt drove Taffyta closer and closer to sheer insanity with every utterance.

Advanced!?

All of this groveling over a mutation—a failed program—It was simply pathetic. She was not advanced, no matter how much everyone spat out those words. What she could do, that willful manipulation of the matrix, that was not advanced, it was barbaric and it was sick. There was nothing advanced about her, and how she cheated to win the races day in and day out. Repugnant little devil. To think that their very own Queen was not only unworthy of her title, but a cheater—surely the matrix: the very framework of their existence here within the confines of this electric reality—acknowledged this unjust ruling. Yet cycle after cycle she carried on, she continued on with her win streaks. She continued to beat Taffyta.

Unforgiveable.

So, Taffyta would grind her teeth, slowly simmering on hatred that surely matched the land itself in size. She couldn't beat Vanellope, this she knew full well. That monster would probably infect her with the bizarre properties.

Then she got an idea; if it is those same properties that give her God like abilities, perhaps she could use them to her advantage?

It all seemed maddening, she didn't even know if the powers worked like that—if they could be handed off like a sickness. It only seemed logical though, after all she had experienced it first hand through physical contact. It was abhorrent to feel any sort of desire for the vile characteristics of that witch. She would have to swallow her pride and not only continue being kind and friendly to the little runt, she would have to spend extended time with her; gain her trust, get close to her and obtain her deepest approval.

This would be a very difficult road, they had a very rocky history after all. Vanellope wasn't very bright, and Taffyta knew that it would only take some minor sweet talk and tongue biting to get on her best side.

No matter how many times she lost a race to Vanellope, she would simply smile and congratulate her on her victory, even if it was _rightfully hers._ She was reaching a point where she could barely withhold her brown-nosing though, where her sucking up was literally breaking her down from the inside out. She hated Vanellope, she hated her with every fiber of her being. How long would she need to waste being the monster's friend? When would she get her powers too? When would she take her place, _her throne?_

Then one day, a foolish boy got in her way.

Taffyta had never paid much attention to him, after all he was simply a back racer that got almost last every time. The ridiculous thing's name was Cottonuget Pepperswirl. Even his name she found to be ridiculous. Standing a bit taller than the rest of them, he had messy silver hair and a pitiful baby face. He wore a rather generic peppermint candy cane design racing suit with dark chocolate boots. In all honesty the boy was barely even noticeable really, she could barely choke out any remorse for the loser.

Yet one day, he beat her.

This was wrong, _all wrong._


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

**Dominus**

She saw how he did it too, or she figured it out that is. That wasn't until after the humiliation, after the failure, after the wretched loss—third place. Absolutely unforgivable. Third place and below was for complete failures, completely inept racers. To add insult to injury it was to that stupid child?! No this was all wrong. She ground her teeth, her blood boiling at astronomical levels as she sat in her kart, watching everyone gather around the usual victor of Vanellope and the new Cottonuget. He had to have cheated. She did recall a few points in the race where he seemed to have disappeared from the trail of racers behind her. She decided to backtrack a bit, falling back to the track and retracing her steps, specifically looking at the spots where he vanished. Sure enough she found tracks going off of the main course, in fact she found multiple spots where this phenomenon took place. She was dizzy with excitement; he was ensnared now, he was _doomed._

This didn't make any sense however—the racers were tracked as they moved. The matrix's grid highlighted their every move on the screens as they raced. This wasn't right, how did he cheat the grid?

It didn't matter, in fact all she wanted now was revenge. Taffyta put on her fake smile and greeted everyone again later that cycle, studying each and every one of them to make sure they didn't know anything about this travesty. No one seemed aware of anything strange, Vanellope too was acting oblivious. How was this possible? She needed outside confirmation.

She decided to pull together two of her closest acquaintances, two fellow racers by the name of Candlehead and Rancis. They both seemed to expect Taffyta's frustration at her loss and silently waited for her to vent—but were all but calm when she explained to them that she knew Cottonuget had cheated. Naturally they demanded evidence; (Or moreso Rancis, Candlehead wasn't very bright and being the sweet thing she is, simply nodded along) cheating was a big deal after all. She told them to drive out to three different locations, to look for tracks going off the main course, the ones that she witnessed herself. They reluctantly agreed and disappeared in a rush to find the trails while she put the second part of her plan into action. She needed to take and question Cottonuget on his strange win. So she drove off, looking for Cottonuget at all of his usual haunts—it didn't take long to find him. He was just on the edge of the Candy Cane Woods, his outfit almost camouflaging him into the backdrop. He seemed to be working on something inside of his kart when she pulled up, surprise darting across his face as he turned and saw her.

"T-Taffyta?" he said, putting his hands behind his back. A tool of some sort, tinkering some illicit machination in his kart surely. She turned off her kart, sitting for a brief moment in silence. She craved this moment, lusted for it. He was going to get his for her humiliation.

"What-what do you want?" he added, gradually becoming more and more uncomfortable with Taffyta's silence.

She got out of her kart, lightly brushing herself off. Her one qualm with racing was that the airborne sugar dust and the like would often dirty her hair and outfit. Originally this didn't bug her too much strangely enough, yet as time passed it began to really eat at her sometimes. Winning races with a dirty image was below her, she was far too pretty for that, far too _perfect._

Shaking off the tic she quietly she approached him, taking off her helmet; her footsteps crunching the rock candy fragments rhythmically. She got up close, merely inches from his face. A very strange air encircled them that moment, one that Cottonuget was almost certain housed a malevolence of some strange sort. He was disastrously right. And while she tried with every fiber of her being not to show her sheer animosity for him likewise, her absolute disgust for him—her pretty face was a sickly blank.

His face was red now,_ he knew what he did_.

Before he could mutter another word, she slammed the side of his face with her helmet. He crumbled before her, curling up in a hurt ball. His dull moaning only drove her deeper into a frenzy.

"Wha-what did—" before he could finish she stomped on the side of his face.

Lucky for her he wasn't wearing a helmet. He seemed somewhat stunned and froze up for a second. She lost control briefly, a fraction of her madness slipping out, slamming her helmet down on his skull a few more times. By now there was blood—purely virtual effect, no one here actually bled—all over the place. Some splattered onto her perfect hair, onto her face, onto her outfit. She couldn't win looking like this. She gritted her teeth once more among a million times and gazed down at him in pure fury. She had no doubt cracked his skull with those last blows, but just as she hoped it wasn't fatal. If it was fatal, the matrix would simply regenerate him. She couldn't have that. She needed to keep him on the brink of death so that he couldn't be regenerated, yet he also could be subdued. It looked like with his unconscious body before her, she had obtained that.

With that she drove off, quickly trying to find Rancis and Candlehead. She told them to meet up with her when they were done. Sure enough they were together at the main stretch of the track. Taffyta quickly drove up, shouting over her kart for them to follow her. Both were understandably confused, Candlehead even muttering an inaudible, "What?"

Taffyta turned off her kart, "Follow. Me." She said, turning it back on and flying forward to make a quick turnaround. Rancis and Candle both shrugged and leaped into their karts, quickly following behind as they raced back to the Candy Cane Woods, back to Cottonuget's body. They had no idea what was going on, but soon they would be completely filled in. The situation that awaited them was one that would surely haunt their digital memory for some time.

Quickly they reached the edge of the woods, Cottonuget's kart still out in the open. Sure enough, in front of it was the unconscious body of his, a small puddle of "blood" around it. Candlehead shrieked and slammed on her breaks, Rancis following suit. Taffyta got out and ran up to the body, still out cold.

"What—what happened?!" Candlehead said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Taffyta turned to her, then to Rancis, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"Ta-taffyta, did you—did you do this?" Rancis said, meekly approaching the body. Neither of them were good with violence or brutality in truth.

"I simply punished the cheater," Taffyta said, kneeling down and brushing some of Cottonuget's hair to the side.

"Cheater?! What's this about? For the record we didn't find any tracks Taffyta!" Rancis replied, visibly frightened now.

Taffyta stood up, what magic was responsible for this? She saw them, she saw the tracks going off course. She didn't imagine it, and she certainly didn't lose to this moron for no reason. No, he cheated, no doubt.

"He must have—he must have gone back and changed them before you got there," Taffyta said, somewhat becoming more and more aware of how delirious she was on the moment. She felt almost at a high with the environment, the punishment, the judgment.

"That doesn't make any sense! If you lost the race to his cheating, and you just found him here and knocked him out—how could he possibly have gone out there, covered his tracks—then made it back here in time?! This is insanity Taffyta!" Rancis said, looking away. Apparently he couldn't face the body anymore, he couldn't face the cheater.

"If Vanellope—" Candlehead muttered.

Taffyta turned, her big blue eyes completely engulfing everything, "If Vanellope what? If she what Candlehead? Are you going to tell her?"

Candlehead went still, looking down at her shoes. Her face going a sickly pale. Rancis remained silent, still facing the distance.

"No one is saying anything, we're taking care of this. I don't race cheaters, and I race one enough on a regular basis anyway—that glitch bitch. Get me some licorice, it looks like he may be coming to," Taffyta added, nudging Cottonuget on his stomach with her foot.

No one said a word.

"Licorice now!" Taffyta yelled, making Candlehead and Rancis jump. With that Candlehead ran off and disappeared into the woods, some licorice vines were surely nearby for her to grab, or so she hoped. Coming back empty handed was not an option.

"Rancis, get his hands behind his back," Taffyta said, walking back to her kart.

"B-but the blood—" he stuttered, covering his mouth as he got a bit closer to Cotton's body.

"Now Rancis!" she said, taking out her helmet.

He reluctantly knelt down and pulled Cottonuget's hands back, clearly on the brink of tears. Just on time, Candlehead returned with a handful of licorice vine.

"What are we doing now?" she said, handing the vines to Taffyta who motioned over to Rancis.

"Rancis is going to tie him up and we're going to, well we're going to get rid of him," Taffyta said, a maniacal smile slowly growing on her face. Candlehead and Rancis froze, both slowly turning to Taffyta.

"What—what do you mean?" Rancis said.

"Just tie him up, then Candlehead help him move the body to my kart. We're tying him on and then we're going to the Sugar Deserts," Taffyta replied, putting her helmet on.

"The Sugar Deserts?! What in the world are we going out there for?!" Rancis exclaimed, his face becoming more and more horrified.

The Sugar Deserts were quite simply an end-line to the matrix. It was on the edge, far out beyond the eye sight. The land itself stretched and stretched until bit by bit, pixel and polygon by pixel and polygon, it faded into nothing. There, on the edge of the Sugar Deserts is an enormous chasm, a deep and virtual abyss that simply dove into nothing. There was nothing more vacuous, more terrifying, and more unsettling then the empty hollows of The Toffee Banks of Naught as they were so named. There, Cottonuget would rest. What better way to punish a cheater than to render him obsolete?

"Use your imagination, we're getting rid of this cheater, _permanently,_" Taffyta added.

Candlehead and Rancis' faces went blank, the horror of the situation becoming all too real for them. They knew there was no turning back; there was nothing they could do. To worsen matters, they knew what would happen if they crossed Taffyta—they both understood this was the only decision. Rancis quietly tied up Cottonuget and with Candlehead's help, dragged the body to Taffyta's kart. After tying him on, they both got back in their karts. Taffyta smiled and started her own.

It was time, it was time to end this.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

**Causality Expanse**

They drove for what felt like eons.

The White Sugar Desert was just as long as the Brown Sugar Desert, even though it was said it was shorter geographically.

As they began to make it to the border of the outlands, to the edge of The Sugar Desert the surrealism began to set in. Taffyta realized how deeply mad this all was. Throwing a fellow racer over the banks? What had she become?

He was a cheater though, he took her place.

He was trying to interfere with her rightful place on her way up. She was to be the next in line—Vanellope took that. This time around she wouldn't be stopped, certainly not by this peon. If she had to destroy him to keep her place, she would. She would savor it too; one more competitor wiped out after all.

She made sure to constantly check her mirrors—she couldn't risk them turning around. They didn't, and they wouldn't, she knew that. They wouldn't ever betray her because they were useless without her. Rancis was smart, albeit an incompetent weakling time to time. Candlehead on the other hand was kind and friendly, but as previously stated, she was quite dumb. No her friends would stand by her and help take care of this mess, and deep down that exhilarated her; a strange arousal from very dark depths within.

Eventually the sky began to darken. The bright sunshine that so enveloped the land had begun to disappear behind dark clouds of the deepest of blueberry cotton candy—oh the irony. She felt an odd chill from the wind, an emptiness from an endless void; The Toffee Banks of Naught were no doubt nearby. She tried to imagine the infinity of their depth, the absolute certainty of demise they offered, it was marvelous. The sugar dust began to thin out beneath their tires as they reached the solid toffee banks, the desert infinitely behind them it felt. They began to slow down as they marveled in awe at the sight before them—an endless expanse of black beyond the edges of the banks. It was pure darkness,_ pure demise._

Taffyta got out and waited for Rancis and Candlehead to stop and get out as well. It appeared Pepperswirl had woken up during transit and was yelling hysterically for help.

He would get _none. _

Not here, there wasn't anyone here to save him. Cheaters don't get aid, they pay their price—Taffyta made sure of this. It was a shame he had to meet such an end, but it was necessary.

Rancis and Candlehead approached, both dead silent, their faces deeply sullen.

Quickly Taffyta removed her helmet, growing somewhat irritated with Cottonuget's shrieking. In an instant she slammed the side of his head a few more times with it, knocking him into a daze. Candlehead covered her eyes, Rancis looked away.

"Well? Rancis untie him and then you and Candlehead can move him to the edge," Taffyta said, glancing back out at the Naught's expanse.

"What—what do you hope to accomplish with this?" Rancis said, finding his voice.

Taffyta turned to him, somewhat shocked he'd even ask. "I already told you Rancis, he's a cheater—"

"That's no reason to kill him!" Rancis exclaimed, "You're a monster!"

"W-wait, won't he be regenerated?" Candlehead meekly chimed in.

Taffyta smiled to both of her rather thick "Friends." They simply hadn't the minds for this. She knew Candlehead certainly didn't, the poor thing being somewhat slow—Rancis surprisingly didn't get it either though. She had learned about it a long time ago, hearing about it from the "King" himself; he claimed the only way to stop Vanellope permanently was to throw her beyond the banks. When asked what he meant, he explained that the naught swallowed everything, _permanently._ To put it simply, it was sort of trash bin of sorts for the game, essentially where the matrix disposed of unnecessary and useless code.

"Oh you two. Look, if we throw Cotton over the edge, he will never come back. Look over the edge over there," Taffyta said, motioning for Candle and Rancis to come to the edge with her.

They remained silent and followed, and leaned over it with her. There, in the darkness, were tiny flashes of light here or there. They weren't sequential, they weren't predicted or following a pattern, they were simply flashes. They couldn't see what they were though, they were somewhat like stars on a night sky in the dark however. There was beauty even in the most horrid conditions.

"What are those?" Rancis murmured.

"Those are infinite re-spawns," Taffyta said. Candle and Rancis both looked at each other briefly before turning back to Taffyta.

"You see, when something is thrown over the edge, it dies and is regenerated by the game. The only problem is if it's thrown over The Naught Bank's edge, it is swallowed permanently because the matrix system itself can't track its position. When it's in the empty space down there, the matrix simply ends up trying to pull the fragments together manually, and while it succeeds, it is immediately foiled as the object is destroyed once again for being off the grid—it's a loop, a causality of loop of sorts. You see? He'll fall down there, and die and be reborn again and again for, well for eternity," Taffyta said, that same maniacal smile appearing on her face. The look of horror on Rancis' and Candle's face was all too obvious however.

"Those flashes are other things which had the unfortunate luck of falling down there, and now, Cottonuget here will join them," Taffyta added.

"No, this is—this is sick Taffyta!" Rancis said, backing away.

Candlehead simply stared in awe and horror at the chasm.

"You will untie him now," Taffyta said, her eyes narrowing to grim slits. Despite her small size she was still remarkably intimidating. Others sometimes saw her as a 'bully', she simply thought of it as educational discipline. Rancis covered his face, falling to his knees. She figured he would break down before he would complete the mission—Candlehead was somewhat useless now too.

"Fine!" Taffyta said, kicking Rancis in the side. He crumpled into a heap in an instant and she pulled his small knife out.

"Candlehead, help me move Cotton, you're still my friend right?" she said, glancing over at the entranced Candlehead.

Candlehead began tearing up at the sight of Rancis, stopping for a moment. Sure enough, slowly she began approaching Taffyta's kart. With that Taffyta began cutting off the licorice vines, unbinding the still dazed Cottonuget. He was completely unaware of the fate that awaited him, the horror that awaited him down there, in the infinite. He had no way of knowing the eternity of virtual oblivion that was calling him from out beyond the naught. Quickly he was untied and was dragged to the edge of the bank. Rancis was sitting up now, his eyes closed in a desperate attempt to hide the horror of what was unfolding in front of him. He wanted to go back, to go back to before all of this happened. When everyone seemed happy and content—even Taffyta. This was a nightmare, a nightmare that he couldn't seem to wake up from here in this virtual reality.

"Well, I guess it's about time," Taffyta said, smiling down at Cottonuget.

His destiny was down in the abyss, a causality loop of life and death brought on by the very system that governed him and their existence. It was a cold and blank fate, it was doom.

She put her foot on top of Cottonuget's stomach, "This is what happens to cheaters, this is what happens when you cross me, and this is what happens when you get in my way," Taffyta said, briefly looking over at Rancis and Candlehead who were both trembling. She made sure to give them a big smile.

Cottonuget remained silent, completely out of it.

She looked out at the expanse one last time, taking in the chilly air that seemed almost reminiscent of the Ice-Cream mountain ranges. With that, she nudged Cottonuget off of the edge, taking in every inch he slid, taking in every moment he unconsciously began his descent into oblivion. His body remained lightly lit up by the dim light from the sky as he fell, but soon it was completely consumed. Taffyta waited sweetly for the confirmation. Sure enough, in an instant a bright light lit up the chasm. Candlehead covered her eyes and fell to her knees; Rancis slowly put his arm around her. Taffyta however stood proudly, taking in the moment, watching the light of the matrix desperately trying to reconfigure Cottonuget's form and failing. Just as predicted, it dimmed and sank, getting dimmer and dimmer until it was soon just a light pulse like the other stars in The Naught. He was gone, the cheater was obsolete.

"Stay sweet," she said, a big grin appearing on her face. She even began giggling, she hadn't been this happy in a long time. With that she turned to her terrified acquaintances, "Well, are you two softies done?" pulling out a well-deserved lollipop.

They didn't say a word. Silently they stood up and faced their karts.

"Can we go?" Rancis said, a melancholy Taffyta had never seen written on his face. Candlehead looked just as disturbed, just as horrified. They didn't appreciate the moment, they couldn't really, they were too simple. That was okay though, they didn't have to. Taffyta had gotten rid of the cheater, all was as it should—she had once again obtained her rightful place, guaranteed queen just like that glitch. She only had to wait now.

Besides if she didn't who would?

"H-he wasn't a cheater, there were no tracks-you imagined them! Even if there were, how could he have gone off grid? Look what happens when we go off of the matrix," Rancis said almost lazily, looking back at the chasm; his voice cracking on the brink of tears. Taffyta knew she saw tracks, he cheated, he could not have one that race fair in square. It wasn't even an argument, and considering his new fate—it didn't matter. She smiled at Rancis and walked over to her kart, him and Candlehead both slowly shuffling to theirs. They began their long drive back, across the desert, back to the virtual reality they had come to know as home. Taffyta knew they wouldn't tell, they knew what would happen to them. She looked in her rear view at the sullen faces of her friends, still desperately trying to take in what had just happened. They'd readjust eventually, she wasn't worried.

With all said and done, now things could return to normal. In time she could retake her place as God, and taste victory once more, as she deserves. Vanellope would fall soon enough, Taffyta just needed to bide her time. She would take out and destroy all the cheaters, putting herself as the absolute, on top, where she belongs. Everything would go as planned, she was destined after all.

She smiled to herself in her madness, to her sheer insanity as they drove across the Sugar Deserts, as they drove back into the reality artificial. This was simply evolution, the extermination of the inferior and the advancement of the superior.

In time, and rightfully so, she would be the new order.


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

**Wrath**

The next cycle would be beginning fairly soon.

That being said, they had a race to attend; the work was never done. With the cheater out of her way there was no more interference, not to mention she was feeling particularly confident now. Confidence however, did not influence the destinies—Taffyta knew full well that the glitch would take yet another race from her, another victory, and give yet another humiliation. She gritted her teeth at the revelation, leaving the Sugar Deserts, her associates dragging behind; everyone desperately trying to leave the ugliness of the Naught on the other side of the desert where it belonged. It took a bit of mental preparation; swallowing the inevitable loss that was to come, nonetheless she would be certain to keep her mask on, and to keep her façade up. How she lusted for Vanellope's powers, how she _craved _Vanellope's demise.

In a small amount of time they made it to the course, each of them making sure to look as calm and collected as they could. Taffyta knew however that this was somewhat dangerous; Rancis was already on the brink of cracking, Candlehead was even worse; visibly disturbed, a silent horror written on her blank face. Taffyta stared at them in her rear view mirror, she couldn't have this. She motioned for them to gather around her, they both quietly nodded, getting out of their karts after taking their places. They paid their entrance fee to the race as quickly as they could and grouped up, away from the mass of other racers getting in their karts. They didn't have a lot of time.

"What's the matter with you two? Nothing happened, _nothing," _Taffyta said, putting her hands on their shoulders, a very nonchalant smile on her face.

Rancis pulled away, "Don't, just don't," he angrily huffed, swatting her hand away.

Candlehead just looked at her, her face on the last stretch of breaking into sobs. Rancis turned and walked back to his kart, not another word spoken. Candlehead put her hands to her face, her small figure crumpling into itself.

"Wha—what are you doing?! Stop! Do you want to draw attention to us?!" Taffyta shouted through her teeth, her fake smile still planted.

Candlehead's sobs only got louder, her hands falling to her sides; her face was a mess.

Taffyta began to slightly panic, the situation was getting out of control. She looked over at Rancis who was worriedly looking at Candlhead himself; he shook his head and got in his kart. He was always better at calming her down, Taffyta wasn't quite sure what to do.

"What's wrong Candlehead?" A familiar voice said.

Taffyta felt her body tense up, a bitter air filling her lungs with every breath. She turned to see none other than the glitch, their _lovely _queen, the infamous Vanellope. They made eye contact for a moment. To Taffyta's horror she saw something on Vanellope's face, in her eyes; it was suspicion. Did she know? How could she know? Then she remembered, did the matrix track them off the race course? Was that possible? Taffyta became increasingly frightened at the possibilities.

At the sight of Vanellope, Candlehead froze up—suddenly her sobbing got even more intense. Her face was a mess of tears, guilt and terror, and rightfully so if Vanellope was already onto them.

"She—uh—well she just has—her and Rancis got in an argument, he said some awful things," Taffyta blurted out, trying desperately to get Candlehead to calm down. She stared at Candlehead, trying to lock eyes with her, trying to silently get her to shut up. Vanellope patted her back, giving Taffyta a peculiar look that made her more and more uncomfortable. She was beginning to lose doubt, perhaps Vanellope did already know. This was bad, this was very bad.

"It's alright Candlehead, maybe it's just pre racing nerves—I'm sure he didn't mean it," Vanellope said, glancing over at Rancis in his kart. His eyes widened and he quickly looked away; the lack of subtlety was painful. This was all damage control, risks had to be taken.

"Say have you guys seen Cottonuget anywhere? He seems to be missing," Vanellope said, crossing her arms.

Taffyta nearly dropped her lollipop, Candlehead quickly slowed on the crying; an eerie silence fell over their small circle. Both Taffyta and Candlehead shook their heads, both hoping their surprise didn't give them away. Thankfully the shock of the question calmed—and scared—Candlehead enough to stop her crying completely. Taffyta was spiraling; everything was pointing at them it seemed, her perfect plan had holes in it.

"Hmm, alright then. Well you two, let's get the race started shall we?" Vanellope said, giving Taffyta one last suspicious look. With that she turned away and headed to her kart.

"Do you want to get caught?!" Taffyta said.

Candlehead was silent.

"Let's go, and keep the tears to yourself unless you want us all to be executed," Taffyta added, heading to her kart.

Candlehead stood there alone for a moment; finally she made her way to her kart. With that everyone was set. The race began and went as it always did; Taffyta made her way through the ranks, weaving in and out of the others, pulling herself closer and closer to the front, to the glitch, to victory.

After the lesser racers were weeded out via environmental hazards—that is being crushed, wiped off of the course, or just obliterated by each other and power ups—it was left to the few. Taffyta had found her way to the front, only to as usual be at the whims of Vanellope's horrid glitching. She didn't bother trying to pass her, she knew that was impossible. At the first sight of a pass or power up attack the glitch could simply teleport to whatever position she wanted in the area; in that sense she was a ghost. She was unbeatable. Taffyta simply took her place behind her, checking her rear view mirror to make sure there was no more coming her way, that she could at least take second place as usual. By now they were already at the final stretch, Rancis and Candlehead strangely enough had disappeared; Taffyta could only assume that they had fallen behind.

The race came to an end like that, the usual presets in place, and one by one the racers crossed the finish line. Taffyta looked for Rancis and Candlehead; at the midway of the stream Rancis finally showed up—and not far behind was Candlehead. They both looked bitter and miserable, obviously not in any mood to race. She skimmed the crowd, observing everyone packing up and heading out. Rancis glanced over at his ranking on the board, then to Candlehead, then finally Taffyta. He lightly shook his head again, a displeased look on his face; finally getting in his kart and driving off.

She watched Candlehead sit quietly, her face blank and emotionless. Finally she slowly drove off, disappearing down the course into the distance.

She was aware of the damage that had been done to them with Cottonuget's death, but this seemed to be even worse than she had prepared for. With the original plan, she figured that Rancis and Candlehead would at least mellow out with the cyclic race, that didn't seem to be the case. In fact, it seemed the two were angrier than ever at her. She knew she couldn't blame them, especially Candlehead. Hopefully Rancis would at least be able to calm her down, wherever they were.

"Your friends seem awfully upset," Vanellope said.

Taffyta turned to see the glitch queen approaching, a victorious smile on her face. Taffyta's stomach churned, the runt made her sick; her face burning with an all too familiar rage.

"Well, today just wasn't their day," Taffyta replied, staring out at the candy crowd.

"You could say it wasn't Cottonuget's either," Vanellope said.

Taffyta froze, was this it? Was this where she revealed how she knew everything about what they did? Was it possible?

"I have to admit, I was pretty shocked when Cottonuget beat you this last race," Vanellope added, her smile growing more and more crooked.

Taffyta clenched her fists. She felt a strange hatred that was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. This little bitch thought she could break her? She was wrong, all wrong. Whether or not she already knew, that cheating runt was disposed of; neither would be hearing from him again. Hopefully, if everything went as planned, she would not only take Vanellope's powers, but would drop Vanellope in the very same void that Cottonuget dissolved in.

Taffyta forced a _very _fake smile, "Yeah—got pretty lucky."

Vanellope chuckled, "Luck? No I think he beat you fair and square."

Taffyta could feel her face getting hotter and hotter, she wanted to bludgeon Vanellope's face in. Her blood boiling at immeasurable levels, she was beginning to struggle holding her mask on.

"He cheated, simple—he went off track," Taffyta blurted out, barely catching herself from ranting on anymore.

Vanellope's eyes widened, "What? He cheated—what proof do you have?"

Taffyta realized she was losing control again. She glanced over at the dwindling racers, the dying candy crowd, the surreal colors and shimmering environments of the electric reality they resided in; this all felt so unreal. She didn't have any merit or ability to go farther with this, she needed to break even and get away from the glitch, get away everyone.

"I—I was joking, it's whatever," Taffyta replied, forcing a shallow laugh.

Vanellope faintly smiled, still staring down Taffyta with a vicious suspicion. It seemed that Vanellope may not know what happened to Cottonuget, but she definitely seemed suspicious that Taffyta and her friends may be aware of his fate. Without any evidence though, Taffyta wasn't going to talk, and didn't have to. The fate that awaited all of them was surely grim had they been convicted.

"Well, I'd better get going, see you on the course soon," Vanellope said, waving and walking off.

The area was nearly empty now, Taffyta stood alone in a deafeningly quiet track. She had only one option, she had to erase everyone's memory—and while she was at it, Vanellope too. The King had done it, why not her?

Taffyta was aware however that she had no knowledge on how he did it though. What little she did know was that it involved the internal and intricate workings of the code within the matrix, the very framework of the bits and pieces and their constructs. She needed more to work with, but had no way of obtaining that information. Surely Vanellope didn't know anything though, or did she? While she seemed far too thick to understand something like that, it wasn't impossible. In fact, maybe it was her tampering with the matrix that led to her ascent into "Goddesshood." That did make sense, but she still felt that Vanellope couldn't be that informed, not yet; she had only been queen for a brief amount of time now anyway.

Taffyta bit her lip. She was at a crossroads now, there was very little room for movement. She could either try and rally up Rancis and Candlehead, and desperately try to not only regain their solidarity, securing their silence with Vanellope's lack of evidence—or she could try and take out Vanellope by herself, via Naught or the matrix. No matter which way she went, it was going to be very dangerous waters. She thought maybe she should try and stage a revolt with the other racers, but that seemed even more insane, and she didn't have that kind of time—not yet anyway.

She started her kart again and disappeared down the course, like everyone else. She had to find Rancis and Candlehead, she had to at least secure their silence. If they told anyone, Taffyta shuttered at the thought of their fate.

The search for her allies, the key to their vindication, and the fall of Vanellope was upon them, and there was _very little _room for error.


	5. Chapter 5

**V**

**Pack Mentality**

Taffyta could barely contain the maddening impatience eating at her as she waited for the open-cycle races to end, for the blasted arcade over-world to close. All of the tears and frustrated madness she had to swallow was overwhelming when she was essentially forced to lose. When it finally did it was only a sharp return to panic and distress that followed. It was upon this return that Taffyta became aware of how much things had warped, how horribly things had turned out. The haze and involuntary oblivion of the open-cycle races brought a reprieve from all of this that was all too brief.

She immediately began her search for her friends, if they would still even acknowledge her that is.

The Caramel Canyons were only hop away. The enormity of the canyons made them a remarkably popular practice track as well as a hangout for more than a few racers. Taffyta figured that while this cycle was closed she needed to search everywhere for Rancis and Candlehead and silence them, and the canyons were a good place to start.

With that she drove as fast as she could, taking every detour she could. The Gumdrop Pass was the quickest way to the canyons; following it she constantly scanned her periphery, making sure there were no followers, making sure there was no Vanellope in tow. She desperately hoped that she would be able to find her acquaintances; she was losing control of them and what they could do to the whole—to her, it was far too frightening to think about. It was only a matter of time before she finally escaped the pass and entered the expanse of the canyons, the caramel flows glistening in an eerie light as she began her search.

She could see faint sugar dust clouds in the distance—no doubt a sign of kart racing.

She tried to follow them, weaving in and out of the maze of bluffs and sunken paths that were carved into the canyon walls. As she got closer she could feel her heart speeding up, her blood crawling through her, a sick uncertainty consuming her.

_What had she done?_

She gasped at the sight of someone in the distance, parked along the side of the main path. The overshadowing cliff darkened him from the sun as she approached, finally stopping and getting out. She saw a flurry of orange here and there, it became very apparent who it was.

"Muttonfudge? The hell?" he said, stepping out into the sunlight.

It was another one of the few male racers here, a boy by the name of Gloyd Orangeboar. His peculiar visage was made even stranger by the large and obnoxious head gear he wore.

Taffyta opened another lollipop, "Rancis or Candlehead, seen em'?" Suddenly she stepped into a caramel puddle, her boot almost sinking below the ankle, "God dammit! Stupid—did you see them or not Gloyd?"

He laughed, turning back to his kart and going back into the shade—the sun was fairly unbearable out here she had to admit. The terrain was just dreadful as well, caramel flows were all over and if it wasn't your tires or kart getting stuck, it was you. The dust got awful sometimes, and it dirtied everything there was to dirty. Caramel was very difficult to get out of your clothes as well, and after the recent caramel incident, Taffyta made sure to watch every step.

"No, haven't seen em', although I thought I saw Candlehead drive by on one of the smaller paths a while back when I was heading over here," Gloyd replied, sitting on his kart door. A wide smile was still planted on his face, no doubt at Taffyta's expense.

"Hmph. Useless as usual," Taffyta said, heading back to her kart. Gloyd simply scoffed and muttered a curse under his breath.

With that she started back up and headed off, watching him wave her off in the distance. The canyons were opening up a bit now, and she began to breathe a little easier as the claustrophobic walls opened up to a wide and rich expanse. While she scanned the area she saw a small group of racers in the distance, out on flats—in an area known as the Sugar Dust Bowl. It was a crater of sorts, made from what was believed to be a collapsed Diet Pepsi volcano. It was the center of the Caramel Canyons and where a lot of free form races were held.

Behind one of the karts she saw what looked like flares—without a doubt it was Candlehead. She smiled and began her rush to the bowl, hoping that perhaps even Rancis was out there among them.

As she got closer she could make out five total racers; Candlehead, a racer by the name of Jubileena Bingbing, her friend Adorabeezle Winterpop, somewhat of a loner by the name of Swizzle Malarkey, and finally—Rancis.

She didn't want any more attention, she simply pulled under an overhanging cliff and watched, waiting for them to finish. They seemed to be holding some sort of barbaric game—Taffyta didn't approve, in fact if it didn't involve direct racing then she couldn't help but see it as a complete waste of time. She waited and watched as they picked up power-ups of all sorts, combating brutally to the very end. After what seemed like infinite regenerations, pummelings, and wrecks, they finally called it quits. Such a childish game—yet how could Rancis and Candlehead even play something like that after everything that's happened? What happened to their horror and dismay? She couldn't confirm it, but it seemed like they were enjoying it, like they were having _fun. _ Were they alright? Jubileena and Adorabeezle drove off north towards the Ice-Cream mountain path, Swizzle disappeared into the east, through what she believed was the Slush Marshes. With what seemed like a blessing from the matrix itself, Candlehead and Rancis began heading south, towards the Main Course, towards Taffyta.

Taffyta knew she was relatively well hidden, they wouldn't be able to see her as they went up hill. She held her breath, letting the tension ebb and flow her sanity piece by piece. Finally they appeared coming up the hill, both making shocked expressions at none other than Taffyta in the middle of the path.

Rancis put on his breaks fairly quickly, Candlehead got a bit closer before following suit. They were about ten yards away, but the fear on their faces was all too obvious.

Taffyta smiled, giving them a small wave.

Rancis glared and began to back up, preparing to turn around. Candlehead looked torn, uncertain of what her own next move should be.

"Wait!" Taffyta said, waving her arms.

Rancis looked over through the sides of his visor. Taffyta took this brief opportunity of calm to approach, and in a minute she was between Candlehead and Rancis, both looked on the brink of leaving—she had to calm them down.

"Look—is, is everyone alright?" Taffyta said, forcing a smile.

Rancis quickly got out of his kart, throwing his helmet—he was clearly very angry. Taffyta somewhat braced herself; she had seen him violent very few times.

"Don't—don't do that! You don't give two shits about us! All you care about is winning and—you're—you're sick, really sick. Just leave us alone," he said, stepping in between her and Candlehead. Taffyta could see Candlehead nervously peeking out from behind him.

"That isn't true, we've been friends for how long? Come on you guys—look, I know I've been a bit harsh lately but," she undid another lollipop, "Can't we just get along again?"

"That isn't going to work, we aren't your damn henchman," Rancis replied, his face a deep red.

Taffyta smirked, she knew all too well that they were, and no matter how much he denied it they both knew; in some sense, they were Taffyta's 'henchman.' Candlehead got out of her kart and walked around, Rancis somewhat blocked her off as she approached. Taffyta frowned at the protective shield he seemed to be putting on.

"Quit that, I'm not going to attack you guys. Why would I do that?" she said, taking a few steps closer.

"Stay back, I have no idea who you even are anymore Taffyta," Rancis said, crossing his arms.

Taffyta wasn't gaining any ground; in all honesty she was beginning to get irritated. She had forgotten how stubborn he was, and Candlehead wouldn't listen to anything Taffyta had to say if he kept demonizing her. She had to win them over somehow.

"We have to work together if you guys don't want to get executed," Taffyta replied.

The air went still; the atmosphere began raining a deep tension on everyone just then. Taffyta had chosen the right way to go, no doubt causing some second thought.

Candlehead stepped out from behind Rancis, a terrified look on her face. Rancis' face began to match hers, both of them cautiously looked at Taffyta. At first, Taffyta figured what she said had scared them stiff—quickly she began to realize that this wasn't her work, this was something else. They had done something; judging by how scared they looked, it was something _very _bad.

"T—Taffyta, I—"Candlehead froze up, her eyes widening, "I told Jubileena what we did."

Taffyta wasn't quite sure how to react. For the first time she wanted to brutally hurt her friend, but this was neither the time nor the place. Her insides felt like they were melting, an intense burning inside of her lungs fired away as her knees began to tremble. Taffyta felt a deep fear that she hadn't in a very long time; the knowledge that she had—no they had, completely screwed up. This was not just a simple error, this was an enormous error of incalculable proportions.

"Taffyta, what did you expect?! I-It was going to get out somehow!" Rancis stammered, stepping in front of Candlehead who by now was tearing up again.

"How much does she know?" Taffyta calmly replied, barely holding back her seething rage.

"I told her that we threw him over the banks. She said she didn't like him anyway so she was kind of happy," Candlehead smiled, unfortunately too naïve to detect deceitful emotions, "I figured we'd be fine—I mean she said she wouldn't tell anyone!"

Taffyta wanted to strike her, however now was the time to act. It was clear that they both regretted what they had done, they both knew full well what had to be done now.

"Well, let's go get her," Taffyta said, tossing her lollipop. She turned and began walking back to her kart, stopping just before she got in.

"Well?! Let's go! I'm not getting executed because you decided to have a damned morality streak all of a sudden!" she hissed, knowing that this would not end well for everyone, not matter how much they _silenced _Jubileena.

Rancis sighed, turning and heading back to his kart. Candlehead turned and got into hers, they both had to have known that this would be the result. In any case, it looked that Taffyta had regained control over them again, it was time to move. So they sped off, down into the dust bowl and onto the north path to the Ice-Cream mountains. They didn't know how far behind they were behind the two, however they all knew that Adorabeezle had her hideout through one of the caves, everyone had visited it at one time or another.

They began their ascent up the mountains through the pass, looking for any karts they could. They even passed the cave to Adora's as they climbed higher and higher. The snow fall was getting thick, and Rancis fell back to help Candlehead navigate—Taffyta focused more and more on scanning the upcoming terrain. She didn't have to search for long before they saw their targets. Only about halfway up the pass, under an overpass to the next mountain, Jubileena and Adorabeezle were parked. It looked as if they were trying to fix something on Adora's kart, perhaps one of the tires had gone out, it could've been anything, either way; this was the opportunity.

They both noticed the three approaching rather quickly and turned, waiting for them to stop. On cue, the snow began to lighten up and the visibility became all too clear for everyone. Facing the horrid future was going to be difficult.

Taffyta got out, Rancis and Candlehead followed close behind.

Jubileena's face was a slight panic, it was horrifically obvious she knew something that she shouldn't. Adorabeezle and Taffyta had never really gotten along too well—moreso they just didn't care much for each other. Regardless, she crossed her arms and simply gave a nod.

"Adora, Jubileena, how's it going?" Taffyta said, the howl of the blizzard winds in the distance almost silencing her.

Adora motioned to her kart, the tire—and what looked like the axle was badly damaged; no doubt she must've hit something. Jubileena just nodded and kept silent. She couldn't protect herself though, it was too late.

"Oh my that's too bad, wish I could help but I'm kind of in a rush. No, I really just wanted to talk to Jubileena for a moment," Taffyta said, putting on a glass smile and giving her deepest gaze to Jubileena, who was beginning to look more and more terrified. She wasn't sure, but Taffyta figured Candlehead and/or Rancis was motioning behind her in some way or another to Jubileena.

"S-sure," Jubileena said walking towards the opposite wall of the path. Taffyta turned and nodded to Rancis, who slowly walked over to Adora. While he struck up some conveniently distracting 'small talk' Taffyta could find out just how much Jubileena knows—moreso how much she shouldn't know. Candlehead approached with Taffyta and they both gave Jubileena _big_ smiles.

"So what do you know?" Taffyta said, looking over at Candlehead.

Jubileena was silent for a moment, terror written all over her face. Even in the frost the nervous heat blazed from her face, its color a cherry red. "She—she told me that you guys took out Cottonuget to the banks, that's all," Jubileena murmured, trying to look anywhere but at Taffyta.

Taffyta glanced at Candlehead again, then back at Jubileena. "Well, did you tell anyone else?"

"N-no!" Jubileena replied, nervously crossing her arms.

Candlehead and Taffyta both glanced at each other, they knew she had to be lying. Jubileena was not only a gossip, but she loved attention. She couldn't keep a secret no matter how hard she tried, _even if her life depended on it._ They were both certain—and judging by her greeting, it was almost without a doubt—that she had told Adorabeezle.

"So you didn't tell Adora?" Taffyta said.

Jubileena shook her head, taking a few steps back. She was beginning to panic; too easy for Taffyta to break.

Taffyta smiled and took a few steps closer, a few inches from her face—just like Cottonuget. She pierced her eyes as deep as she could into Jubileena's, an eye dominant contact that spoke an infinity of volumes.

"Are you lying?" she said, putting her hand on Jubileena's shoulder.

Jubileena's eyes widened, she was visibly trembling now. Candlehead took a few steps back, turning to Rancis who was watching them both out of the corner of his eye. Taffyta stayed silent, staring down Jubileena with as much power as she could.

Jubileena finally fell to her knees, "I-I'm sorry!" she cried, covering her face with her hands.

Taffyta nodded to Candlehead who in turn nodded to Rancis. He frowned, closing his eyes briefly. He then took off his helmet, and with Adora's back turned to him now—she wasn't making any headway with her busted axle; he went and slammed the back of her head with one strong blast. The blow made a loud _crack_ as she made a light yelp, before being knocked her clear over, her body making a few convulsive jumps before going limp. She was down—just what Taffyta needed.

"Now," Taffyta murmured as Candlehead tackled Jubileena, knocking her into the rock wall. In an instant Rancis was there and they both proceeded to pick up, both holding her hands behind her back. Jubileena began sobbing and begging Taffyta to not hurt her. Taffyta wasn't quite sure what to do, she couldn't kill her here—and she certainly wasn't a cheater; not enough for her to drag her out to the banks and throw her over. She just needed a good scare. With that Taffyta had Rancis and Candlehead drag Jubileena to the nearby path edge. With the overpass going to the other mountain from here, the path broke out of the pass and from here on up the path, there was no barrier between them and the freezing expanse off the side of the mountain. It was almost as frightening as the banks—Taffyta briefly shuttered in exhilaration at the force of the moment.

"Wait! W-wait! P-please!" Jubileena cried out, barely audible between sobs. Rancis and Candlehead's faces were blank and focused, both knew this was necessary. Taffyta motioned for them to push her out a bit over the edge—deciding to hang her out by her feet. There, dangling over hundreds of feet by the strength of two, Jubileena began shouting hysterically.

"I won't tell anyone else I promise! Please! I'll tell her not to say anything either just p-please!"

Taffyta chuckled a bit—she was unbelievably pathetic right now, her somewhat snotty exterior broken down to a sniveling rodent.

"Isn't this enough Taffyta?!" Rancis said, Jubileena's right leg shaking in his hand.

"She—She's got it!" Candlehead exclaimed, starting to pull Jubileena up. Taffyta rolled her eyes and nodded, smiling at the crying mess as it came back up from the edge. Immediately she curled up into a ball, crying hysterically at her rather close brush with a nasty fall. Rancis put his face in his hands, understandably exhausted—Candlehead stood up and turned to Taffyta.

"I think we're done here Taffyta, they've got the point," she said.

Rancis looked up and nodded, "Please, let's just go. We silenced them, I don't think they'll be saying much of anything." His voice was almost completely drowned out by Jubileena's incessant sobbing.

"Fine, you got that Jubileena? Be sure to—pass the message on to Frosty over there," Taffyta said, patting Jubileena on the shoulder.

They all looked over to Adora's body which was still limp.

"I hope she's okay," Rancis said, looking at his hands.

"She's fine, she hasn't regenerated—let's go," Taffyta said, taking one last look at Jubileena before heading to her kart. They all started up and headed back the bowl, watching the fiasco that just took place disappear beyond the pass walls behind them. Rancis and Candlehead took this experience much better, looking almost relieved to just get out of there. By now surely they were adapting, finally understanding the importance of tying up loose ends. As they drove through the canyon they pulled to the side, stopping under one of the overhanging cliffs to escape the sun.

Dodging caramel flows Rancis and Candlehead approached Taffyta's kart. She leaned against, her door, pulling out a lollipop.

"Well, that's that," Taffyta said, triumphantly smiling.

"Y-yeah, Rancis said, taking a deep breath.

Candlehead no doubt felt bad about what happened—considering it was her fault; it was all taken care of now, or at least that's what Taffyta liked to think. There was always the possibility that Jubileena would still talk anyway, still—she felt that she had quite shut her up, at least until Taffyta could figure out how to get Vanellope taken care of. Adorabeezle would follow suit too, she knew who was in charge now.

"I wonder how her kart got damaged," Candlehead said, looking off into the bowl.

Rancis shrugged, Taffyta shook her head. Who knew? Could've been anything, even another racer. . .

"Wait! Was that a power up blast?!" Taffyta said, quickly looking at Rancis.

"I—I don't think so," Rancis replied. His eyes began to widen as he realized what may have happened. Candlehead looked at both of them, completely oblivious.

"Wh-what is it guys? What's wrong?" She murmured, frightened of the answer.

"That may have been caused by a power up—there could be another racer!" Taffyta hissed, throwing her lollipop. This wasn't good, in fact now this was a real problem. If they ran into another racer that racer was a great distance away now, there was no way they'd catch them.

"N-now we don't know that, I mean m-maybe it really was just an accident," Rancis stammered, his expression becoming more and more disturbed. By now a panic was setting in, they knew they may have an even worse situation on their hands then what they thought they had originally. Taffyta didn't think it could get any worse; amazingly not only did it, it got _a lot_ worse.

"We've no choice, we have to search," Taffyta said, jumping into her kart.

"Where do we go?" Rancis replied, looking between her and Candlehead who now had her hands to her head.

"The castle—where the glitch is, we need to camp out and see if we can intercept anyone who tries to get in. If we can at least stop them from getting in, we can shut em' up fairly easily. Remember, no one else knows what we did, or what happened to Adora or Jubileena," Taffyta said, putting on her helmet.

"Yet," Rancis added.

"Oh. . ." Candlehead whispered, on the brink of tears again.

"This is no time for that, let's go. There is no time to waste you two," Taffyta said, starting her kart. In an instant they were flying through the Caramel Canyons, on their way to the castle as fast as they could. Taffyta had no clue how much time they had, but it couldn't have been much. This may all be a false alarm after all, however—there was no use risking it. They had worked so hard to patch this up, to close the holes, they couldn't be stopped now.


	6. Chapter 6

**VI**

**Holographic Trap**

There had been rumors, whispers across the lands that Crumbelina di Caramello, another racer that Taffyta could never really stand, was moving certain things across the boundaries to the outside, that a sort of "black union" was under her control—that perhaps, Taffyta was far behind in the business of taking over. However, these murmurs always pointed to the idea that Crumbelina wasn't trying to take over their world, it was always that she simply thirsted for possessions; an insatiable greed consumed her and she simply wanted her material fix, even moving out all sorts of products from their world. Taffyta could never wrap her head around what Crumbelina could possibly be selling, or what in the blazing Hells would anyone want from this candy-coated prison they all knew as home—yet it was becoming more and more apparent it had _something._

She kept scanning her peripherals as they rushed to the castle, as the landscapes morphed and shifted in hideous blurs that echoed peculiar terrors from within her. Taffyta was getting increasingly paranoid, her only anchors being Rancis and Candlehead and they were falling down the same rabbit hole.

Could Crumbelina be behind this? No—she would never get her hands dirty; if she had a "mafia" of sorts then surely she would send one of her subordinates out. Among the many rumors surrounding her there was strange hints that apparently she had three racers under her direct command—that did her dirty work. One went by the name of Minty Zaki, and while Taffyta never really interacted with her much or saw her as a threat, she found it strange that Zaki always loomed by Crumbelina's side, always waiting to power up some poor bastard who got too close to her. The other that seemed weirdly attached to Crumbelina was Orangeboar, and while Taffyta was never sure, it seemed that there may have been even more going on between them. In any case, and disregarding the two obvious pawns—or so she thought, she couldn't figure who the third one would or could be. She wondered if Swizzle was the one; being the loner he was, he could be anyone and anything and no one would ever know.

Taffyta murmured his name to herself again, watching the terrain open up even further, until it was naught but a mile before the bridge to the castle itself. This was an important set up, they _had_ to succeed; failure was nothing but a doomed sentence. She raised her hand, signaling Rancis and Candlehead to slow. They turned off and parked on the brink of the nearby Candy Cane Woods, making sure they were out of sight from the high road.

"Well, what's the plan?" Rancis said, hopping out of his kart.

Candlehead pulled up behind him, glancing over at the castle in the distance. The look of uncertainty on her face only disturbed Taffyta even more, reminding her of her seed of paranoia.

"We wait. The moment we see anyone coming we pull out and blockade them, we just want—to ask a few questions is all. . ." Taffyta trailed off, seeing something in the distance. The thick and winding border of the Candy Cane Woods made it somewhat difficult to see. Stepping out a bit they all saw a glimmer—no doubt another kart approaching. The Gumdrop Mountain's path opened up before them to their potential demise. Whoever it was, they needed to be stopped.

"Wait is that, is that—Snowanna?" Candlehead said, stepping out a bit farther, her eyes straining to see the colorful mirage in the distance.

Snowanna? That couldn't be right. She never seemed to cause any trouble, could she really be under Crumbelina's control? Taffyta couldn't see her attacking Jubileena and Adora, or anyone for that matter. She rarely used power-ups as it was!

A feeling of deep dread began to pollute Taffyta's person, her knees beginning to jitter a paranoid dance. This seemed wrong—sure the situation was precarious as is, but to think Snowanna was under Crumbelina too? She began to consider the possibility that everyone else worked together, that her friends and herself were alone, _utterly alone._

"Do you really think it was her?" Rancis said, glancing over at Taffyta.

Taffyta wasn't sure, she had no idea how to respond at all really. Yet sure enough, it was becoming less and less of a doubt as they approached. Snowanna's ridiculous hair and bizarre kart shimmered unreal colors under the sun as it got ever closer.

Following Taffyta's signal they all jumped into their karts and sped to the middle of the road, the three of them blocking off the bridge completely. Snowanna remained emotionless, nonetheless slowing down and stopping just before them. Taffyta was out of her kart almost immediately, stopping halfway in the expanse between them. Rancis and Candlehead followed close behind needless to say, both just as confused as the increasingly unstable Taffyta.

Snowanna stepped out, taking off her visor and helmet. Flicking her hair she shined a brief smile before crossing her arms, staring daggers at Taffyta.

"Something to say?" Taffyta said, scanning the nearby cliffs and overhangs from the mountains, watching for watchers, watching for _them. _She couldn't shake the terror that someone was watching her, that someone was gazing down on them form the heavens—she felt she was truly beginning to go mad. It was getting more and more out of hand.

"Uh, move please, you're obviously you know, blocking the way," Snowanna replied. She glanced at Candlehead and Rancis, quietly laughing to herself.

"What business do you have here?" Taffyta said, clenching her fists. The air was becoming incredibly thick, Rancis and Candlehead no doubt sensed it too.

Snowanna made a somewhat shocked expression, understandably so as well—after all she had no way of knowing Taffyta's state of mind, whether or not she was with Crumbelina or not.

She took a few steps forward, sending a subtle signal that she wasn't frightened of Taffyta at all. She was quite fearless despite being so kind and quiet. Taffyta could see her intimidation attempt; glancing back at Rancis and Candlehead she silently gave the 'all green' signal. Rancis and Candlehead lunged forward to grab Snowanna, beginning to pin her down rather quickly.

"G-get off!" she screamed, kicking Rancis square in the stomach. While he crumpled she turned and pulled Candlehead down by the hair, giving her a swift kick to the face as she arose. Taffyta hadn't expected her to fight back; somewhere in the pressure throbbing inside of her head, somewhere between the logic and the madness, she had underestimated her enemies.

"You picked the wrong bitch," Snowanna said, leaping forward and kneeing Taffyta in the gut. A sharp pain knocked Taffyta to her knees, an additional sharp sensation rang through her as her face got hit with the back of Snowanna's hand.

Taffyta was now on all fours, staring down at her hands, she slowly clenched the sugar dust within it. Her body felt tense, sickly, aching, _distorted._ She suddenly became unsure if this was all even real, the unreality wave washing over her yet again. Was this happening? She began struggling more and more to catch her breath, to simply breathe. Rancis was staggering to get on his feet again, only to be knocked down by a sharp blow from Snowanna's helmet. Candlehead was curled up in a ball next to him, no doubt suffering a bleeding face from that kick.

Suddenly she felt a shock, a large and intense explosion rang out from behind her. Her ears popped and somewhere she felt a stinging pain—something possibly broken. The air was cloudy, thick with sugar dust and burning candy. She could see Snowanna's outline in the smoke, Rancis and Candlehead's too, and _someone else's._

Taffyta desperately tried to hone on the new person approaching in the distance, but the body was too concealed in haze; her head was ringing, strange blurs and twirls of disorientation danced in front of her eyes. The silhouette had a strange obtrusion in its hand, a large object of sorts. Taffyta collected her strength and stood up, barely staying up when her left leg, which seemed to have some sort of debris lodged in it, almost collapsed. She was wounded, her friends were too. This had gone wrong, this all had gone completely wrong.

"R-Rancis," Taffyta stammered, staggering over to him. He coughed and slowly got up. By now Snowanna was by her kart, a big smile visible on her face as the smoke and dust began clearing up. Taffyta glanced over at Candlehead who was on her feet surprisingly now, holding her face however. There was blood all over her hands and shirt, she no doubt had a broken nose.

"Wh-what did you—what did you do?" Taffyta coughed out, almost losing her balance again.

"Over here sweetheart," an unfamiliar voice said, just beyond Snowanna. No doubt the mystery person; by now the smoke had cleared and the assailant was standing next to Snowanna. The shock of the explosion had Taffyta's senses warped still, nonetheless her eyes began to finally clear up, her vision becoming all too clear.

There, next to Snowanna, was none other than Minty Zaki. Rancis and Taffyta also both noticed the large object in her hand; what appeared to be a large and detached gum cannon. Power-up enhanced, these things weren't very useful outside of a race and unattached to a kart, when it was firing bubblegum anyway.

"Zaki," Rancis murmured, taking a few steps forward. Candlehead however sat back down on the road, her nose still bleeding.

"Rancis, when will you cease being this bitch's lapdog?" Zaki said, giving a rather vicious smile, hardly complimented by the thing in her hand. Rancis simply glared, finally turning to help out Candlehead.

"What is that?!" Taffyta shouted, becoming furious as her senses began to level out. Had she intended to kill them? No-that was to immobilize them. By now, the other pawn was probably delivering the information to Vanellope. This was all part of Crumbelina's act. With such a good gesture, she made it look like she was still under the Queen's best interest. Demonizing Taffyta wasn't too difficult, and with her immobile it would be that much easier.

"This?" Zaki replied, holding up the gun, "Oh this is a modified gum-cannon, except it fires Mentos missiles. Nifty huh? Bit more potent than the former, made it myself." She leaned up against Snowanna's kart, "Yeah, you three are pretty obnoxious so perhaps it's about time to get rid of you. You're long past warnings now. Adora just recently got hers, but you know that don't you?" She stood up again, waving her gun, "Her and Jubileena were babbling a bit too much so I paid them a small visit."

Zaki flashed a huge grin, a small glimpse of absolute blood lust written all over her face. She always came off as a bit unstable, but now even compared to Taffyta she was unsettling. She aimed the Mentos Launcher at them, a Mentos tablet falling into place. Out of the corner of her eye Taffyta saw Rancis lean forward a bit, subtly shielding Candlehead from whatever may come.

It was confirmed, they were behind Adora's accident. What did they mean "interfere with some of our transit?" There was so little Taffyta truly knew about Crumbelina's operation and her influence. How big was it? How many really worked for her? What was their product?

"What you did to Cottonuget was pretty sick," Zaki said, giggling as Taffyta's face suddenly paled, "Yeah, Jubileena told me. She said she'd tell me a big secret if we didn't blow up their karts completely-and them. It was quite the secret I gotta admit! You know I expected this from someone as petty as you Taffyta but Rancis? Candlehead. . .? Well maybe you Candlehead but Rancis? Come on you guys. You didn't think you'd get away with this did you?"

Now Minty was toying with them, slowly walking back and forth between Snowanna and Taffyta. She knew everything, and no doubt Snowanna and her other associates did too. How the information traveled so fast Taffyta was unsure, nonetheless she knew _too much._ Rancis and Candlehead's panic stricken faces were nothing compared to the sheer confusion, hatred, disappointment, and awe that was on Taffyta's.

"Now, why don't you do us a favor? Get out of our way," Zaki said as Snowanna laughed and got in her kart.

Taffyta had no choice, would she rather get blown up?

_Yes_.

They'd simply get regenerated—albeit far away. Too far away, too far to stop the information from getting to Vanellope however. This was a no win situation.

She had lost.

Once again, she had lost. To _cheaters. _

Her body filled with a seething rage, the same she felt last cycle when confronted by Vanellope. She clenched her fists and quickly picked up a charred cookie wheel from one of their cars, chucking it as hard as she could. Zaki's eyes widened, no doubt surprised Taffyta still had any fight in her. The charred wheel barely missed. Zaki's eyes narrowed to darts; furious she lifted the Mentos Launcher and fired.

There was no time between the impact and her firing. Taffyta looked at her and Snowanna briefly before being engulfed in an explosive fire of an intense chemical reaction. It was hot, but it quickly became painless. The burning mix destroying everything in an instant. She lost sight of Rancis, Candlehead, herself, she had completely been swallowed in black. She had been dissolved, her kart destroyed, and her friends along with her. This wasn't supposed to happen. She had failed to do what she knew was right. This wasn't going to end here, not yet. In any case they were being regenerated; just as quickly as they were immersed in the darkness of the meta-space between life and death, they were spat out onto the virtual land once more, just before the finish line on the main course. Their karts were still gone, smoldering in a virtual and non existent hellfire. It had not been 10 minutes and they were back already, back to the chaos, back the sick madness that Taffyta had brought upon them. She knew Rancis and Candlehead didn't deserve this. That being said, it was time to begin wrapping this up, permanently.

There was no doubt that the information had been delivered by now. No matter what they were all alone. The entire system was against them; Vanellope surely was rallying the powers at be to take them down—this was the final stretch it seemed. Taffyta pulled out a lollipop, walking over to Candlehead and Rancis nearby.

"What-what now?" Rancis stammered, still in the regenerating-daze.

Taffyta smiled, "We show Crumbelina just how obnoxious we can really be."


	7. Chapter 7

**VII**

**Brace Code**

Without any karts, travel was going to be fairly difficult. The new cycle would be beginning fairly soon however, and the only option was to move as fast as possible.

They headed to the nearby Candy Cane Woods. Taffyta knew they needed cover; with only a few hours left until the next cycle they had minimal time to act on the new plan_._ They were lucky enough not to encounter any passing racers as they entered the forest, only going in a bit before Taffyta stopped everyone.

"Rancis, I need you to do something for me, for us," Taffyta said, pulling out a lollipop. Rancis' face darkened, no doubt dreading what his 'superior' was going to issue to him for his next act. He lowered his head, awaiting Taffyta's next maddened command.

"Head to the plant and get us another kart, just one—make it however you please," Taffyta added.

"W-what? Another kart? I don't—"

"It's important Rancis, we need it for the next phase of action," Taffyta replied, only barely attempting to reassure the increasingly confused Rancis.

"What phase of action?" Candlehead interrupted, just as perplexed.

"Yeah do you plan on filling us in? Besides, we only have a few hours left; when I get back there will only be like—an hour left till the next cyclic race begins," Rancis added.

"Just trust me. With it we can find Crumbelina and, well—tie up some loose ends," Taffyta replied, a strange smile on her face, a smile Candlehead and Rancis had come to fear as of late. She couldn't fill them in completely yet, because she hardly knew the ins and outs of the next step herself. All she could figure however, was that the only option was to find Crumbelina and get her reaches off of Taffyta and her allies. More than anything though, Taffyta thirsted for vengeance against the _cheaters; _what they did was unforgiveable.

Rancis made a disgusted expression, silently nodding and turning back. He broke into a sprint and ran towards the Kart Assembly Plant, the very same that the Glitch herself used to make her own abomination of a kart. It was a fair distance and he would be gone roughly an hour, as long as everything went according to plan that would be fine.

With that Candlehead and Taffyta waited behind, wandering a bit deeper into the forest. The air was strange and as time passed it only got worse. Taffyta knew that what she had done to her friends, to everyone else, to Cottonuget, and to herself was horrible; there was no doubt that all of this was a bastardized exaggeration that should never have existed. Regardless, it did happen and continues to plague them, it needed to be taken care of.

_The cheaters needed to be taken care of._

"Taffyta, what's going to happen to us?" Candlehead said after a period of silence that felt like an eternity. They both stopped, a reprieve in an empty space between massive peppermint trees and frosting-ferns.

Strangely, Taffyta wasn't sure how to respond. In all honesty she had no idea. It all depended on Vanellope in the end. Where Vanellope was or what she was doing was a complete mystery, although it was safe to assume she knew about Cottonuget now. More likely than not she was building her forces and her defense against Taffyta. In the end, she may even revoke Taffyta's existence—just as Taffyta did to Cottonuget. While the thought sent chills down her spine, it seemed somewhat fitting. However, she would not let that happen, not now and not ever. That cheater will never get her way again.

"I don't know Candlehead," she replied, leaning up against a nearby peppermint tree, "We'll be fine though, from now on we will have the upper hand."

Candlehead looked excusably unconvinced. She turned and stared into the deeper woods, the Laffy Taffy could be heard in the distance, far out beyond them, beyond all of _this._

"Either way, maybe we should head back, hopefully Rancis is on his way back by now."

Rancis was speeding back as fast as he could. The kart assembly device was a very frustrating machine to use if one had little to no experience with it. He hadn't made a kart in some time, using the thing was a blasted mess. Nonetheless, they had a kart and a moderately strong one at that—whatever Taffyta had planned, hopefully this would help.

He was a paranoid mess though, constantly scanning the periphery for other racers, weaving in and out of the main course and the back tracks. The cyclic race would begin in an hour or so, soon enough everyone would be on their way to the starting line. It was somewhat good timing for him; the lethargic guard at the plant's entrance was the only one who knew of Rancis' kart high jacking—he wouldn't be able to do anything in response, it was far too close to the race. That being said, afterwards they would have to fess up; Taffyta's plan, whatever it may be, had better be the end all to this or otherwise they were doomed.

He saw what looked like Jubileena and Adora-who was driving a somewhat modified kart now-in the distance, on a parallel track—no doubt both heading to the main course. Keeping at it he finally began approaching the Candy Cane woods, nervously awaiting Taffyta's commands.

Just as he approached Taffyta and Candlehead were leaving the woods, both quiet and melancholic with a deathly air.

"Exellent Rancis, let's make our way to the Caramel Canyons shall we?" Taffyta said, waving for Candlehead to follow.

They both hopped on the back of the kart; the thing had a rather macabre design, decorated in black licorice and white rock candy—Rancis no doubt made from a darkened state of mind. Taffyta wasn't sure how much everyone's psychological state had declined, or how far even hers did.

"Dare I ask why?" Rancis said, turning back to them. Candlehead too silently awaited a response, or whatever Taffyta could choke out to keep them going.

Taffyta chuckled, "Fine—it's simple, we're going to take on Crumbelina."

Rancis took a deep breath, silently turning back to the wheel and starting the kart. Candlehead too remained quiet; at this point, they were both aware that they were all in this together—in the end, there wasn't any changing Taffyta's mind. They could only move forward. With that they sped off, in a few minutes they would be at the Caramel Canyons. Where Crumbelina was in all of this Rancis could only guess, his assumption was that Taffyta knew—and he was right. Taffyta nodded for him to go in deeper, keeping watch for other racers. With the cyclic race starting in less than an hour they had little time to act.

Taffyta guided him through trails through the canyon's main course, some rising above the cliffs and some sinking far below. Taffyta knew that Crumbelina had something of a hideout out here, but it was in an area that was quite difficult to get to. Either way this was the perfect area to have a nest for shady activity—it was a blank and desolate area, dry with sugar dust gusts and treacherous with the flows that the ground angrily spat out. She didn't know the exact location, however she had an idea where it may be.

As they ascended up a path that seemed to rise a bit higher above the cliffs than the others they had traversed, Taffyta motioned for Rancis to stop. He followed suit, putting in park as they reached the top of the hill. The surrounding cliffs made an eerie inclined hallway, almost a mock staircase to heaven it seemed.

"Now, Rancis, hop out and you and Candlehead will step behind the kart. I'm going to put it into neutral and we're going to push it until I say to stop," Taffyta said, hopping off alongside Candlehead.

"Where to?" Rancis said, looking around.

They were on a plateau of sorts, in fact they were quite high above the canyons. Staring out they could see The Bowl and the intensely complex network of trails they wove through the rocks. Taffyta pointed out a ways, putting her finger to her mouth. "Keep it down, push it in that direction and just stop when I say to."

Candlehead and Rancis both had no idea what to think, but had no reason to contest. Taffyta set the gear and hopped out, motioning for them to begin. After a few minutes they had pushed the kart quite a ways, although they still couldn't see anything, just more desolate area. Finally Taffyta held up her hand to stop them, glancing back in front of her. Rancis and Candlehead approached her, both becoming increasingly worried what was going on.

Taffyta pointed to what looked like a large hole in the ground far out in front of them.

"Is that Crumbelina's. . .?" Candlehead said, taking a few steps forward.

"I think so, stay quiet and follow my lead," Taffyta said, getting down on her stomach. They did the same, and following her they slowly crawled towards the hole. She gritted her teeth as she felt the brown sugar dust scrape up against her coat-dirtying her clean and flawless image. That with her already tensed aura, made the atmosphere damp with an eerie surrealism. None of them had any idea what to expect, or what they'd really find—nonetheless, they could only hope this would work out, there was only about thirty minutes left.

It didn't take long before they began hearing voices.

"That's—that's them!" Candlehead exclaimed.

Taffyta shushed her and crawled to the very edge of the hole, Rancis just behind her. Sure enough, there were four Racers and their karts were below. Crumbelina sat on her kart's hood; she appeared to be issuing some sort of orders about some shipements. In front of Crumbelina was Snowanna, Orangeboar, and Malarkey. Taffyta couldn't see Zaki anywhere however, that made her a bit uneasy, she was _always _a problem.

Taffyta moved back a bit and rolled over on her back, glancing over at Rancis and Candlehead to her side.

"Back to the kart," she whispered, quietly getting up and leading them back.

"So now what?" Rancis said, glancing back at the hole.

"Rig the kart to bull-rush, crash it into them," Taffyta said, smiling at Rancis.

Rancis and Candlehead's eyes widened, both understandably shocked. After all, destroying their kart out here? They'd surely be locked out here for an hour long walk back—there was no way to get to the races from here in time. Suddenly Rancis began to realize that there weren't going to be cyclic races. They weren't worried about time anymore, what Taffyta wanted to do was apathetic to matrix-law. This was the end game it seemed. From here on out, it would only get more and more maddening.

"What is this Taffyta? What is your aim?" Rancis replied.

"Simple, we take out a few of them and hold Crumbelina hostage. No doubt she has valuables from her trades with the out-world games, we can even take their karts. It will at least give us a brief advantage against Vanellope—you know she's coming for us," Taffyta said, pulling out another lollipop.

"B-but, it won't kill them. They'll regenerate," Candlehead muttered, glancing back at the kart.

"That's fine, by then the cyclic races will be starting and they won't have their karts, we will. On that note, with all this happening, the game will be flagged as damaged by the out-world and put out of order—kind of like that Ralph guy's was. We simply have to use that down time to take Vanellope's throne and rule ourselves. By the next checkup we'll have everything under our rule, running smoothly—and we'll be fine. It's a power shift, that's all," Taffyta said, her smile getting bigger and bigger.

"You honestly think that'll work!? You've had some insane ideas but this takes the cake!" Rancis said, on the edge of panicking. Candlehead too was completely overwhelmed and at a loss.

"Listen, we don't have a choice. If we don't do this, we will be taken down by Vanellope, that I can guarantee you. We mind as well try; the plan will make more sense as we go along with it."

"But—I can't—God dammit," Rancis replied, slowly realizing that she was somewhat right. If they don't do this, they're doomed to fall into Vanellope's hands. What she was planning to do to them they could only guess, he'd rather not find out.

"So, let's do this," Taffyta said, pointing to the kart.

Rancis reluctantly opened the kart's hood and began moving a few things around, Candlehead hopping into the seat.

"Alright Candlehead, it's fairly easy, just keep your foot on the brake to make sure it doesn't over shoot the fall and hit Crumbelina—remember we want to try to get the ones in front of her with this," Taffyta said, stepping aside as Rancis began tampering with the wheel and some of its innards, "Hop out just before the leap."

Candlehead nodded, waiting for Rancis to finish. This was incredibly dangerous, worst case scenario she'd have to finish this with just her and Rancis. That was fine, although not preferred. Rancis gave her a thumbs up and stepped back.

"Rancis stay up here and wait for my signal," Taffyta said, taking off a large rock candy piece from the kart and handing it to him.

"What is this?" he said.

"Just wait for my signal," Taffyta replied, turning back to the hole. She got down and crawled up to the edge. It looked as if they were wrapping up the meeting, now was the time to act. She moved back a bit, getting out of the way and sitting up. She smiled and gave Candlehead the go.

With that Candlehead started the kart and began her rapid approach to the hole. Rancis worriedly looked on as Taffyta watched with complete awe. This was going to be beautiful.

There was no doubt that Crumbelina and her followers could hear the kart quickly approaching. According to plan, as the kart approached the hole Candlehead got up and hopped out, barely stopping before the edge with her roll—the kart however soared over. Taffyta made sure to stand and observe this act and all of its glory.

Rather comically, everyone froze as the kart flew at them. Candlehead had timed it rather well. The kart flew at a perfect slant into the group just before Crumbelina. It slammed into what looked like Malarkey's kart and not only exploded, but pushed that kart as well into the circle. Malarkey and Snowanna were both engulfed in fire in debris, their screams only barely audible over the sound of the machines roars—they were quickly deleted for regenerating. Orangeboar appeared to have been struck with a flying piece of the kart's debris as well—although it seemed to only have knocked him out. Either way, this first phase went fairly well.

Rancis took a few steps forward, only stopping just as quickly as Taffyta motioned for him to remain still.

Taffyta turned back to find Crumbelina, who appeared to be hiding behind her kart. She no doubt thought about getting in and driving off, but the only routes out appeared to be beyond the wall of destroyed kart. She was effectively trapped.

Taffyta waved to Candlehead and leaped down into the hole, taking in the smell of burning candy. She had gotten quite a successful strike against them with this one. It felt right.

"Crumbelina, remember me?" Taffyta said, wryly smiling.

Crumbelina glared at Taffyta from behind her kart, no doubt surprised. She slowly came out. Taffyta and Candlehead stepped over the wrecked kart that was now quietly smoldering, both in a state of euphoria at the feeling of control they had over such a powerful opponent.

"Well Crumbelina? Oh by the way, thanks for sending your dogs at me—although by now they're being regenerated huh?" Taffyta added.

"Hmph, more than we can say for Cottonuget can't we you psychotic bitch," Crumbelina replied, getting up on her kart's hood again.

"He got what he deserved, and you will too."

"Oh? You think you've got me?" Crumbelina replied, a faint smile on her face.

Candlehead saw danger and suddenly grabbed Taffyta's arm, but before she could say anything a blast erupted right next to them. Taffyta was on the ground, her ears ringing again—she'd been here before, it was Zaki's work.

She looked over at Candlehead who also was fine, but justifiably frightened.

"You got lucky back there Taffyta, now we're going to take you out permanently—just like you did Cottonuget," Crumbelina's voice rang out over the smoldering karts. She was threatening the Naught? She had gotten pretty bold it seemed.

"Well?"

"Please Crumbelina, you and that green whore can ride the Naught yourselves," Taffyta said, getting up, Candlehead just behind her. They both locked eyes with Rancis who was standing on the cliff behind Crumbelina and the now visible Zaki—she must've been hiding behind one of the large rocks down here.

"That so? Zaki," Crumbelina replied, nodding to her guardian.

Zaki smiled and aimed her Mentos missile launcher at them. If this was their attempt at forcing compliance Taffyta was hardly impressed. With that Taffyta waved her hand to Rancis. Before Crumbelina and Zaki could even look to see who was stalking them, Rancis had leaped down and brought the rock candy upon Zaki's head, bludgeoning the girl into the ground. She grunted and fell forward, dropping her gun, her body going limp-just as Adora's previously. Like Orangeboar, it appeared she was only knocked out. That was fine however.

"My my how inconvenient for you," Taffyta said, flashing Crumbelina a big grin who was now beginning to panic, realizing she had no one to save her now.

"Should have worn a helmet," Candlehead said, giving an equally disturbed grin.

"Wh-what are you planning? You won't get away with this," Crumbelina stammered.

Taffyta glanced over at Rancis who took a few steps towards Crumbelina, Zaki's gun in hand. She was completely powerless now, there was no doubt that she would talk.

"Well, tell us about this little operation Crumbelina. Don't stray from the details—we need resources," Taffyta said, pulling out yet another lollipop.

Crumbelina bit her lip, looking down at her kart. She had no choice.

"I trade sweet products from game to game, simple," she said.

"Rancis," Taffyta said.

Rancis aimed and fired a mentos missile at Orangeboar's unconscious body, dissolving him in an intense blast almost instantly.

"That won't scare me—he's just going to be regenerated," Crumbelina replied, glaring at Rancis then back at Taffyta.

"We know, we're just clearing the room. Trust us, we have something different planned for you, how about a trip to the Naught?" Taffyta said, getting a bit closer. She could see the terror written on Crumbelina's face, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

She bowed her head a second, "I-I trade files too."

"Files?"

"They're called E-Files, short for embryo files. At least that's what I named them. They're files in the game's registry that can be modified for anything—I guess other tech smart people in some of the other games in the arcade will manipulate them into whatever they want. They pay big for this, every game has them but they're buried inside the registry. I found a hole in the matrix here a while back and have been pulling them from there ever since."

"What? Isn't that dangerous to the overall system?" Rancis said.

"No the game will regenerate them by itself when needed. They're mainly there to make new files—there are well over a million from my harvesting point. No one else knows this however, that being said I'm the monopoly at the top of all this."

This was amazing, she had found a dent in the very fabric of the matrix itself.

"That's quite interesting, we'll be taking it from here though," Taffyta replied.

"What does that mean?" Crumbelina said.

Taffyta nodded to Rancis again, he quickly turned and blasted away Zaki's body, smiling at how good it felt to wipe her out. He motioned for Crumbelina to get down, waving for her to come closer to him on the side.

There were three caves leading away from this little area, no doubt an intricate underground network for her trades. Somewhere inside, she must have her mine for these "e-files." Taffyta and Candlehead walked towards Crumbelina's kart, gaining a distance from her and Rancis. He turned and approached them, stopping just before Taffyta. Without saying anything, he turned back and fired at Crumbelina, dissolving her in the same blast that so many before had been. Again, the feeling made the savagery worth it. Regardless she'd be back, they all would be—until then, they had everything that Crumbelina had to themselves. They may be able to find just what they need to mount a decent rebellion against Vanellope—or so Taffyta hoped.

"Well, so far this has all worked out—I can't believe it," Rancis said, putting down the Mentos gun.

"We have Snowanna's, Orangeboar's, and Crumbelina's karts now," Candlehead added.

"That's right, and whatever Crumbelina has inside her underground—I say we go take a look. We'll need all the support we can get," Taffyta replied, getting in Crumbelina's kart.

They each got into a kart. The cyclic races were no doubt starting very soon—just as well, no doubt it was obvious they weren't going to happen with everyone detached from their karts, Malarkey's destroyed. If all went as planned the game would be put on lockdown temporarily until the next checkup—hopefully by then, Taffyta would have Vanellope's throne and everything under control once more.

_It would be perfect, no cheaters, no more._

They split to the caves and began their search, looking for not only defenses at Vanellope's surely approaching forces, but solace, a simple solace that they all so desperately needed.


	8. Chapter 8

**VIII**

**Suspicion Volley**

Taffyta's madness was not something that could be ignored any longer.

For some time now Vanellope had sensed it—even before everything happened that time ago, she could feel Taffyta's mind slipping, slowly slipping piece by piece. What it was falling into she couldn't describe, in fact she could hardly notice it sometimes. When it did show up, it was impossible to miss; it was the face of animosity, a corruption that seemed to consume her completely. Her face changed, her eyes changed, she became someone else, _something else. _It was in her very data, although it being inherent she hardly thought. Yet lately, it not only got worse, it got a lot worse. In fact, it got so bad that many were regenerated on her behalf, one unfortunate racer was even deleted. They were fortunate enough that he was a background racer—had he been a main racer, the game may have been shut down completely do to "internal problems."

Internal problems, that's not even the half of it. We all hate to lose, but Taffyta _really _hates to lose—in fact she hates it so much, it's incredibly chilling being around her when she does lose, especially lately when Vanellope herself has been doing the winning.

Here, now, things were at their worst. Vanellope had only been through a few cycles before everything had seemed to go from balanced to complete chaos. As she observed her world, she saw death wander the reaches, explosive violence raining down upon everyone and everything; all at Taffyta's finger tips. Vanellope knew that Rancis and Candlehead were both not innocent—but at least were being manipulated into these horrid acts. What Taffyta was planning must have been nothing short of complete control, something she wouldn't have no matter how hard she tried.

With Cottonuget's deletion Vanellope immediately suspected Taffyta, but had no proof to back it up. That last cyclic race was enough circumstantially to convince her however. To worsen matters, she had to let her go, let the mad racer disappear after the race was over, only guessing what would happen next.

On the side Vanellope knew some of Crumbelina's operations, and even that a few racers worked under her. That wasn't an issue inherently, in fact she figured it may even be good to get in on the trading, after all it isn't technically illegal, albeit a little shady. Be that as it may, when Adora complained to Vanellope about the recent incident involving her kart she was perplexed; gang violence? What was this small candy land turning into? She couldn't technically punish Crumbelina or the rather violent Minty Zaki, not without any hard evidence. The damage to her kart was just enough to damage an axle. Some of the tracks have environmental hazards, that being said, she preferred to just get Adora a brand new and modified kart and be done with it, and that's what she did.

Not even an hour after having Adora's kart rebuilt, Snowanna and Zaki would show up and tell Vanellope about how apparently, Candlehead had told Jubileena it was Taffyta who had Cottonuget deleted—by taking him to none other than The Naught. This was something that was far more serious than simple violence, in fact this was a crime punishable by formatting: resetting a character's data. Vanellope never, ever wanted to do that to someone; after all it completely deleted the character's memories and personality and essentially spat out a blank slate. That was something like deletion but it still kept them around, just blank shells however. She had no idea how long it would take for them to return to their former selves, _if _they ever did. On that note, they wouldn't be the same most likely. To make it even more precarious, formatting can sometimes distort and warp the actual matrix itself. Her greatest fear was that formatting Taffyta would permanently damage the game and get it unplugged. She couldn't have that.

She tried to give Taffyta a brief moment of doubt, opening the secret chamber behind her throne and looking into the registry space. Sure enough Cottonuget's data was phasing—that is, it was slipping in and out of existence. The matrix had no hold on it, the data was falling in and out of regeneration. He truly was stuck in a bizarre space in between death and life.

She made an effort to look at Taffyta's data. It appeared normal, but there was an odd tint to it. There, in that strange virtual space, the electric blue of the data fragments glowed like stars—Taffyta's had an odd opacity to it, almost a thickness, a substance. It was like she was transcending the very barriers, like she was gaining solidity, in what Vanellope wasn't sure of. It all seemed so maddening. Was it a virus? Or was it something other? Then a dingy darkness inside Taffyta's data pulsed, enveloping the entire thing—then just as suddenly, disappearing into it.

This was some sort of potent and viral corruption, there wasn't any doubt anymore.

After Zaki and Snowanna left Vanellope gathered up her aerial candy guards. She knew that she had to go and stop Taffyta, she knew that she had to stop this insanity, and she knew that this was going to get incredibly ugly.

To really worsen matters, the cyclic race was to begin any minute now. She figured she may as well not show up, there was no point. With three racers going haywire they would surely get flagged. Vanellope was somewhat frightened, although she knew if she could get everything under control before the next check up there wouldn't be a problem. She had to act _very _fast. She had only a few options, at her best though, she truly wanted to talk Taffyta and her group down so they could at least get Candlehead and Rancis back. Taffyta needed formatting, Vanellope knew this—yet she tried her best to believe that there was another route, that there was something else she could do. She couldn't put everyone in danger like that.

Nonetheless, there was even a possibility that Taffyta's disease could spread to Rancis or Candlehead, that would truly be catastrophic. The bottom line was that she needed to get them away from Taffyta and at least lock her up briefly and separate her from the mass.

Vanellope and her group had only made it to edge of the Candy Cane woods before she saw someone in her rearview mirror. She halted her candied guards and waited for what appeared to be panicked Adora and Jubileena approaching, Snowanna and Malarkey riding their kart's backs. What insanity had taken place now?

They finally slowed down and stopped, Snowanna hopping off, an very upset expression on her face. Malarkey too looked mortified.

"That crazy bitch just ran a kart into all of us, I don't know where Crumbelina, Zaki, and Orange are but we got wiped out," Snowanna said.

"Wait wait what? You mean Taffyta?" Vanellope replied, hoping she was wrong.

"Yes Taffyta! Who else? She's insane, format her," Snowanna hissed. Malarkey nodded his head and leaned up against Adora's kart.

"Sh-she almost threw me over a cliff—well she almost had Rancis do that anyway," Jubileena added, "She even had Adora here knocked out. They're really dangerous. . ."

"What?! When were you going to tell me that?" Vanellope said, quite honestly overwhelmed at this point.

"She made me swear not to tell, it seems like she's everywhere so I've been following that out of fear to be honest," Jubileena replied, glancing back down the track. Even when Vanellope thought Taffyta couldn't go any farther, she did.

"Wait so she ran a kart into you guys? So where's the others?"

"We don't know, maybe they're at the regeneration point at the starting line—we found Jubillena and Adora there when we were regenerated and saw you drive by on the back tracks."

More likely than not, they were back there. Taffyta wouldn't hold them hostage—there was no one there to fight for them. No she probably just toyed with them and then wiped them out and maybe took their karts, she maybe even took some of Crumbelina's things if this was at her supposed hideout in the Caramel Canyon. She was rallying up for her rebellion.

"Wait so what about the cyclic races?" Adora chimed in.

Vanellope went silent, this was really dangerous. She had time to stop Taffyta now at least, although if she failed, it was quite literally, game over.

"We won't be having them," Vanellope replied.

A thick silence overtook everyone, all simultaneously realizing what this meant, all realizing the gravity of the situation.

"We need to find her," Snowanna said, walking back to Jubileena's kart.

"We don't have a lot of time, but with the time we do have, we need to find them, dismantle the group, and get Taffyta isolated. I think she may be able to be reasoned with and at least subdued," Vanellope said, getting back in her kart. Her candied guards ached for action, grunting at the still of the air. Their long, spindly legs towered them over her and everyone else; their wings of cotton film shimmered an eerie purple.

"Reasoned?! Hell no, she's beyond that Vanellope and we all know that!" Snowanna said, her face looking more perplexed than angry.

"Formatting is the only way to go," Adora said, Jubileena nodding in agreement.

"Look, I don't think any of you realize how dangerous formatting is, not just for Taffyta but for all of us. It puts the entire matrix in danger. I don't want to do that, especially over one character—an important one at that. We aren't just going to format her, I need to try alternatives. Formatting really is the last resort," Vanellope said, sinking into her seat. The dread of the oncoming meeting was truly bearing its fangs.

Everyone remained quiet.

"I'd prefer it if none of you came, but I won't stop you," she added.

Snowanna got on Jubileena's kart, Malarkey on Adora's—the owners too getting in and buckling up. It was obvious now, they were all in on this, they all thirsted for revenge. Taffyta's madness needed to be stopped no matter who's side one was on.

The guards took flight and Vanellope sped off to the Canyons, Adora and Jubileena close behind. Vanellope knew Taffyta was waiting for them, she could sense it. The end game was upon them.


	9. Chapter 9

**IX**

**Deus Ex Machina**

It wasn't long before an eerie red tint fell over the candied paradise. It was nothing other than the fabled out-of-service warning from the arcade over-world.

Vanellope understood this would be a result, and in all honesty wasn't too frightened about it. After all, Taffyta was far more dangerous than any incoming danger, at least right now. If they could simply put everything back together, it would be smooth sailing. This was all speculation of unfortunately.

The group had driven down a few back roads, along some of the paths parallel to main and side tracks. She wanted to avoid the main roads, fearing that Taffyta and her gang could be on any one of them, watching, waiting, and prepared to strike. Not that their karts were anything quiet, but it couldn't hurt. The worst case scenario: they successfully send everyone to oblivion—there, waiting at the regen point, they could simply capture and hold the regenerating racers, essentially shooting fish in a barrel. When all was said and done, Taffyta would go to the mainframe and rearrange it however she deemed fit, thus dooming everyone and everything to her rule. The whole thing seemed so ridiculous, so farfetched, yet after everything that had happened, it wasn't too unlikely.

As they went down a path aside the upcoming entrance to the starting line Vanellope saw the unmistakable shapes in the distance, stopping her kart immediately and halting everyone behind her. She turned back to everyone else, who one by one got out of their karts. She swallowed, her stomach aching a horrid sensation, a dread that she knew was destined. This moment she had awaited for a long time, it and all of its horrible glory. A confrontation between complete opposites, a finale between bitter opponents.

Getting out, she took off her helmet and took a few steps forward, beyond her kart, to the figures approaching. The faint breeze brushed her face, somewhat comforting her nerves that shook within. There was no mistaking it, it was Candlehead and Taffyta. Rancis was nowhere to be seen however—this was no doubt purposeful; more likely than not, he was hidden and prepped to fire some sort of power up at the group. Vanellope quickly scanned her surroundings, unable to find anything unfortunately. Candy Cane trees engulfed her right, another branch of the Candy Cane woods. To her left were the walls of the main track, the backsides of the towering bleachers the candy crowd cheered them on in. They were essentially trapped, bottle-necked into their demise. Taffyta had planned this, and Vanellope realized right then and there something she already knew, that this was not going to end well.

Snowanna had already walked out in front of the group. She had a mouthful of things to say to Taffyta; her fists were clenched and ready to meet the sociopath's face. Despite her confidence however, surpassing the group was not the right move. Almost as soon as she was between Taffyta and Vanellope's distances between each other she was suddenly engulfed in fire and smoke, noise and scattering pixels. This was the work of Zaki's Mentos Launcher without a question. Vanellope quickly scanned the area again-the explosion had been so fast that she hadn't been able to see where it came from. She gritted her teeth, Rancis was going to be a large problem, as they all were. Adora and Jubileena shrieked at the sight, after all it was quite a disturbing viewing. Not that they hadn't seen death before, but here, now, and under these circumstances, the specter of death seemed far more horrid, despite the knowledge that they would be regenerated. Snowanna's body was disintegrating and disappeared almost instantly. Malarkey quickly turned to Vanellope, a furious expression on his face, he wanted vengeance so desperately. Vanellope frowned at their immobility, they couldn't charge, after all they still couldn't see where Rancis was, and for all they knew Candlehead and Taffyta may be armed with foreign game technology from Crumbelina's hideout.

Just as this was happening Vanellope's winged guards swooped down and formed a wall between them, their cotton candy wings glimmering in the surreal light of the fading Mentos blast.

"Well Glitch? Aren't you happy to see us?" Taffyta finally called out, a big grin on her face. Her eyes gleamed in a strange light, the same that Vanellope saw that day on her file.

Vanellope figured that Taffyta had Zaki, Crumbelina and Orangeboar already taken hostage, possibly tied up and pinned down somewhere out there, along the tracks between them and the data stream. They must've found them at the regeneration point—or at least around it, just as she thought they would; this must be their plan. That being said, Taffyta may be planning to simply blow them all up and go wait for their regeneration. If that was the case, what was she waiting for?

"Look at me!" Taffyta hissed, noticing Vanellope lost in thought and pulling out a strange and tiny object. She pointed it at one of Vanellope's guards. It glowed an odd purple and made a faint whirring sound. It must have been from another world, most likely a first person shooter.

It suddenly fired an odd light and swallowed one of Vanellope's guards whole—consuming them just as effectively as a Mentos missile would. Everyone gasped and took a few steps back. Vanellope froze however, unsure what the next best move was. Taffyta desperately wanted attention, but she was precariously on the edge of complete insanity.

"Taffyta, are you just going to kill us? If you are, you could just do it now right? I mean it's not like we have the technology you do," Vanellope said, stepping out from behind one of her guards.

"What are you doing?!" Adora said, looking back and forth from Taffyta to Vanellope, a terrified look on her face.

"If you are planning on taking over, and under your control performing some reconfiguration, we won't stop you, we can't," Vanellope added, not sure if her plan would work.

Candlehead looked perplexed, staring down at her feet—desperately trying to calculate what Vanellope was doing. She couldn't figure it out, Vanellope wasn't worried about her. Taffyta simply stared out at them, an almost hollow gaze. She knew Vanellope was up to something, but wasn't patient enough to wait around to ponder it. She fired again and dissolved another guard. The guards however, the several left, stood their ground firmly.

There wasn't many options at this point, Vanellope could either go through with her plan or be dissolved and taken into Taffyta's custody upon regeneration.

"I know you can't stop me. We've come too far Glitch," she took a few more steps forward, "You think you can outsmart me but you're wrong, soon you'll be _dead _wrong." She pulled out a lollipop and waved it at them, a condescending smile on her face.

Was Taffyta planning on throwing them all over the naught? Surely she wouldn't be so foolish. The deletion of the main cast would be the demise of the entire game, they would no doubt be unplugged. Suddenly Vanellope realized that that may very well be the plan, Taffyta not only corrupted her friends, but in their madness, they planned on truly destroying everything, and bringing the entire system down with them. Her desire to win had been replaced with an obsession to consume. Her data had no doubt gone haywire by now.

"I hope you're ready, I've got a wonderful surprise for you," Taffyta said, taking a few more steps forward, now where Snowanna once was. Candlehead made a big grin just behind her, sickly in her insanity, her eyes gleaming a glossy haze.

Vanellope smiled, looking over at Adora and Jubileena, Malarkey behind them was still bitterly fixated on Taffyta.

Taffyta could see Vanellope's smile, her apparent lack of control of the situation only infuriated her even more. "What are you smiling at bitch?! I'll make you smile real pretty!"

Again she dissolved another guard. Now only three remained, they regrouped and formed another wall. Vanellope looked up at them.

"Spearhead," she whispered. They all nodded their lollipop like heads, understanding what she meant. Jubileena and Adora were still perplexed and confusedly shook their heads. Vanellope trusted they would understand. Taffyta however didn't find it funny.

"I guess you're ready to die," Taffyta hissed, signaling up to Rancis, who Vanellope now realized was up above on the wall hiding. This was it, there was no time left.

"Now!" Vanellope shouted, darting back to her kart. One guard immediately lifted off, heading straight towards Rancis, another behind him. Rancis fired the Mentos Launcher and it immediately engulfed the candy guard, dissolving it in a sick and hot mess of goo. Rancis wasn't prepared for the guard just behind him though, and in an instant was tackled by the behemoth—Vanellope simply wanted him subdued for now, and trusted that the guard had succeeded. Simultaneously, the last guard lunged forward at Taffyta.

By now Jubileena, Adora, and Malarkey were all completely confused, and it took a "Get in your kart and follow me!" from Vanellope to snap them out of their daze. Taffyta and Candlehead were both briefly caught off guard with Rancis' fall.

As they all scrambled to their karts, just as planned Taffyta raised her bizarre gun and fired at the creature, destroying it instantly—however, like Rancis, she wasn't prepared for what awaited her behind it. Taking the bait, Vanellope had time to get in her kart and start the power up—a large rock candy cannon rose from her hood, and in an instant it fired a large stream of sharpened fragments at Taffyta and Candlehead. Taffyta saw the gun and immediately ducked, lighting up in an odd bluish glow. This had to be the work of additional external technologies, it was an energy shield of some sort. It completely protected her; she smiled up at Vanellope from behind the odd wall. Candlehead wasn't so lucky however, and despite ducking out of the way and trying to start a similar shield, she was hit with a few fragments. She collapsed and went still, leaving only Taffyta.

Vanellope wasn't wasting any time however, and in an instant had already begun her race back to her castle, to The Registry. This needed to end.

She flew past Taffyta who quickly stood up, a seething rage boiling through on her face. Vanellope turned and gave her a merry smile as she drove off, only further infuriating the psychopath. Adora and Jubileena were not far behind, Jubileena took the opportunity to take some action of her own and as she passed Taffyta and got behind Vanellope, she abruptly ran over Candlehead and crushed her, killing her in a flash of pixels and strange light. Adora kept to Vanellope's trail, using her karts special ability and blasting a wall of frost and snow behind her, completely hiding the leaving karts from Taffyta and her trigger happy finger.

They had gotten away, Candlehead was to be regenerated, despite the guard holding Rancis captive—he was supposed to grab the regenerated. No doubt Snowanna was there by now, waiting for Candlehead and give her the, "Just Deserts."

"Fucking whore!" she shouted, insane with fury. She ran to her kart alongside the forest and started it up, readying for the chase.

By then Vanellope and the others had already made it to the main path to the castle, she was making good time. She checked her rear-view mirror, no one in sight. This was perfect, she may be able to succeed yet. Just as they got on the bridge to the castle something whizzed past her head—something hot.

A Mentos Missile.

Vanellope frantically watched her side mirror as Jubileena and Malarkey were engulfed in hot light. Their faint screams could be heard over the roar of her kart, the sound chilled her—but more than that it angered her. She was growing quite fed up with all of this. She looked over to Adora who was just as angry, activating her power-up she fired a candy spray shield ahead of them; Rancis—who somehow must have survived the battle with Vanellope's guard, fired another Missile, only for it to be blocked by the spray shield. He had stopped his kart just in front of the castle door and got out, waiting for them head on now. The candy spray shield faded quickly though, and soon they were vulnerable again. They still had a bit of the bridge to go, and Rancis was waiting at the end, at the door, at their end. Vanellope could see him raising the gun again, and as he fired it she felt a slam from her side. Her kart swerved off a bit and Adora's, who had hit her, had done the same—quickly shifting back to the side again. Her quick thinking had saved them both-although with the path closing in on Rancis, that wouldn't work forever. The Mentos missile barely missed both of them and exploded not far behind. They were closer now, only a few thousand more feet.

Vanellope wasn't sure how they were going to get in easily with Rancis there. He quickly reloaded his gun for one last attempt at killing them. They both had spent their saved power ups and had no other options—Adora didn't, Vanellope had her teleportation however. She knew this, but she didn't want to leave Adora. Just then, Adora turned to Vanellope, a faint smile on her face. They were rapidly closing in on the castle entrance, Rancis steadied his big gun and prepped to fire. Vanellope looked over at Adora again, uncertain what she was planning. She then looked back at Rancis who fired his last shot at them. Adora swerved into Vanellope again, knocking her out of the way. As she drifted off, she quickly turned to Vanellope.

"Glitch through it!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, before Vanellope could even register what she said, Adora was swallowed by the Mentos explosion. Rancis had gotten her for good this time.

Vanellope quickly looked forward at Rancis again, now furious. He was closer than ever now, less than a hundred feet away. Glitch through? Suddenly she realized what Adora meant. Rancis put down his gun, and smiled a sinister and sickly look at her, he too completely out of his mind, completely ready to die. He hadn't a care in the world; the somewhat kind boy had been warped into a maddened killer. As she approached she closed her eyes and focused—and in an instant, she was through the door, in fact she had glitched to her throne room. The teleportation had worked better than she had originally planned. She swerved to a stop and got out of her kart. Fearing any more interference from Rancis she hurried to lock the enormous cookie door.

She had only one place left to go now, The Registry.

She hurried to her throne, activating the passage and slipping into the sleek tunnel. It was lit with odd and surreal lights that seemed almost unnatural for the game itself—as if the area was a special land, almost a sacred realm.

She stood before the black expanse, the eerie light from the files afloat in the space dimly lighting darkness. It was empty out there, beyond the files floating within it. To be honest the black space somewhat frightened Vanellope, it vaguely reminded her of true death, of The Naught. Regardless, this was it, there was no other option now.

Suddenly she heard an enormous explosion from behind her, it sounded like—a kart. She knew immediately that it was Taffyta, that she had in a frenzy drove her kart straight through the gingerbread doors. The explosion was immense though, she may not have lived through it. Regardless, Vanellope hadn't the time to waste, she jumped into the space, moving towards the center as fast as she could. There at the core was her destination, their salvation. She couldn't move fast enough, and her drift across the expanse seemed as slow as ever.

"So this is it?!" she heard Taffyta choke out, wounded from the crash into the throne room. Vanellope turned and saw she was hunched over a bit, barely standing up and staggering to the entrance. In awe nonetheless she looked up and insanely smiled again. She leaned over the edge, taking in the naught like depth she watched Cottonuget fall into.

"Taffyta stop, you've done enough—you're hurt," Vanellope called out from the space.

Taffyta began laughing hysterically, falling to her knees.

"You, you don't—you don't think that's gonna stop me do you Glitch? I-" she began breathing heavily, her body was breaking down completely it seemed, "I don't need your sympathy bitch." She stood up again and aimed her strange gun at Vanellope.

"Don't! If you miss you may hit something important, permanently damage the game and screw us all over! Don't be an idiot!" Vanellope shouted.

Taffyta grimly giggled, "Is that all? Well I guess it's lights out then." She shakily aimed, firing the thing in a big purple glow there in the dark. The shot whizzed past Vanellope, luckily messing the floating files and the core, disappearing into the ether beyond. Vanellope knew she had to at least protect the core, and strategically made sure she was directly in front of it. If Taffyta were to hit it-there's no telling what would happen.

"Taffyta stop!" Vanellope yelled, looking back at the core.

"No—I, I don't think I will. . ." she said, heavily breathing again; she went silent for a second, her body lightly glowing a sickly blue. It was that same glow Vanellope saw that day, that she saw earlier in her eyes. Taffyta was corroding right in front of her.

"You're sick Taffyta, you've got some sort of virus," Vanellope said.

Taffyta's eyes widened, she somewhat lowered her gun. Her face held an expression of sheer horror, and just as much-disgust. Just as quickly she raised it again, a familiar anger appearing on her face.

"Are you saying I—I'm a Glitch l-like you?" Her body briefly shifted in space, the pixels twisting. It was a horrible sight-Vanellope somewhat understood what it must look like when she glitched. Yet, what Taffyta was doing seemed far worse and far more corrupted.

"No Taffyta that isn't what—" Vanellope froze up as Taffyta aimed again.

"Don't ever compare me to your sickness you fuck-up!" she screamed, a madness in her voice unlike anything Vanellope had ever heard, "Stay sweet glitch!" The virus was on the brink of destroying her now. In an instant she fired again, the laser hitting a few files to Vanellope's immediate side. She wasn't sure what they were, but nothing immediately happened so she could only assume they weren't too terribly important. Nonetheless, there wasn't any time left to waste.

Taffyta collapsed-however fortunately, and falling into the void Vanellope floated in she looked up at Vanellope, her eyes glowing eerily. Lucky for Vanellope she was slowly making her way to her objective point—the core—this whole time, and just then she had finally made it. She turned and put her hand on the glowing core, its tendrils reaching out across the void and connecting everything. She looked over at Taffyta, who's eyes widened, suddenly aware just how much Vanellope could do right there, and how she had lost the moment Vanellope touched it.

Taffyta began tearing up, the tears glowing just the same. Her form was a strange and hollow shape now, almost see through. Her ghostly torture was painful even for Vanellope to watch. She quickly looked back at the core, remembering her mission.

"Registry form—Vanellope, Password: Princess, Access User Taffyta—Override genesis protocol; Password: Sweetheart. Command: complete format drive dash memory. Execute." Vanllope said, quickly looking back at Taffyta, now undergoing a formatting. Her small and crumpled up body began glowing—but not an eerie blue, but a sort of soft white. It seemed somewhat peaceful, and Taffyta's face went calm just then. The matrix was at work, hopefully fixing her and her madness, hopefully taking out the corrosion inside of her. Now for part two of her plan.

She glanced once more at the core.

"Registry Form—Vanellope, Password: Princess, Access Mainframe, Password: Candyland, Command: Lower protector walls. Execute." The Core made a strange and loud beeping sound, Vanellope continued; "Access Mainframe, Command: select all available files. Execute." She continued at the Core's confirmation, at all of the files around her glowing with the matrix's selection. It was amazing, the files all simultaneously glowing lit up the area like the arcade itself, a the surreal and heavenly glow of systematic processes that governed their very existence. It was time, she yelled at the top of her lungs, bracing for impact. "ACCESS MAINFRAME, COMMAND: RESET TO DEFAULT! EXECUTE!" She didn't think she'd ever have to do this, a mass reset, but this was as good a time as any. After everything that had happened, it seemed only right.

She didn't know what was going to happen, she had no way of knowing, yet she was ready, she was ready for all of this madness to be over with; she could only hope. She could only beg the forces at be to finally end this.

To end this. The words echoed through her mind, her synthetic consciousness. Everything went dark, and for a brief moment she was afraid. Even then though, it was somewhat peaceful; there in the black space Vanellope closed her eyes and smiled at the much welcomed quiet. She just wanted everything to go back to normal, everyone to be okay again, and everything to be in order. This wouldn't respawn Cottonuget-he was permanently lost, but all the same, this was the next best thing.

She had pulled her last straw.

_To end this. To end this._

"To end this, to end this—"

"What was that?" a voice said next to her. She turned to her right, it was none other than Adora. She looked confused. Vanellope had never been so happy to see her, despite not quite understanding what was happening at the moment.

"W—what?" Vanellope said, staring at her, then looking around. They were all on the main track. The candy crowd was cheering loudly as it seemed the racers were getting in their karts. It was a race, everything was running as it should. Suddenly her stomach plummeted, she saw Rancis a few rows behind her on the track—yet he looked, happy? He got in his kart, next to him was Candlehead, she also looked something normal.

"You said something about ending?" Adora added, putting her helmet on.

"Oh—it—it was nothing, sorry, good luck!" Vanellope replied. She had no idea what had happened, Vanellope was all that was left of that mess.

"Please, you'll win like you always do," Adora said, smiling and walking off. She got in her kart a few rows back. The reset had been a success it seemed.

Vanellope looked around again, a cyclic race, normality had finally been restored it felt. The crowd was going wild and Vanellope realized she needed to get in her kart and get ready. She hopped in and looked to her side at someone getting in their kart. It was Taffyta. Vanellope's skin crawled, her heart nearly stopping, she didn't know if the formatting had worke, she had never done one before after all.

"Good luck!" Taffyta said. Her voice—it was cheery, upbeat even. There wasn't even the faintest sense of patronizing or condescension. She was brand new. She put on her helmet and started her kart, flashing Vanellope a smile. Her eyes were even a bright and shiny. In all honesty it seemed eerie, so bizarre seeing Taffyta being nice and sportsman like. Vanellope smiled and wished her luck back. She was so relieved that she was alright. With that the race started and they were off. Everything was fine now, everything was finally stabilized. Vanellope felt happier than ever, after all, with this finally sorted out, the game could start running normally again. They appeared to be out of danger.

To no surprise Vanellope won again, and as she crossed the finish line, her heart finally let go of all the panic, dread, and worry that had been plaguing her with all of these recent events. Luckily for her she was the only one who even remembered them—her being The Core's user and all. And with her the memories and knowledge would stay—and if she needed to do it again, she just might. She sat at the finish line with a few of the racers and talked as the crowd cheered her victory. She wanted to forget everything as she talked to everyone, but she knew that it was also somewhat important not to forget, it was a twisted history, but history nonetheless.

At the same time, Taffyta got out of her kart and walked over to Rancis and Candlehead.

"She's too good," Rancis said, taking off his helmet, a small smile on his face. He waved to Taffyta as she approached.

"Yeah, guess we'll never beat her again huh? Oh well—she is our queen and all that right?" Candlehead replied, looking over at Taffyta, "What do you think Taffyta?"

Taffyta looked over at Vanellope in the distance. She smiled at her even, and it felt alright for a brief moment. She turned back to her friends;

"She seems nice but—"

"But what? You're not jealous are you?" Candlehead said, smiling wryly.

Rancis shook his head, "Come on, you can't always win Taffyta." he laughed.

She chuckled, trying to reassure her friends, "No, no I know. It's just, I—I think she cheated, I don't like cheaters."


End file.
